Naruto the Storm King
by KenzoXShuyita
Summary: There are no 'what ifs'. Naruto sealed all of Kyuubi's chakra into himself, enabling him to defeat Madara. However, Madara sends Naruto to a different dimension as a final action of revenge. "Only Dragonslayers can kill dragons? Ignorance. Only Godslayers can kill gods? Arrogance. Heh, I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Earthland had better prepare, because an unpredictable maelstrom has arisen.
1. Prologue: A New World

**A/N: I had this idea…and even though I said that I wouldn't go and have multiple stories, this was just too much to pass up. Well, the actual reason was that I would most likely forget it in the future, so I had to do this now. Kindof. I don't know.**

**Naruto, the Storm King**

***Edited*...somewhat**

**Prologue START**

"Kurama!" Naruto yelled out as the nine-tailed beast was forced out of the blond's body. The blond recoiled backwards and began to fall from a height of fifty meters, immediately feeling the drain from the loss of the Bijuu in his stomach.

'_A jinchuriki without their Bijuu will die. I can't let it end like this!_ _When did I ever give up? I'll never give in! I'm not Hokage! I won't ever stop fighting back because I CHOOSE TO FIGHT BACK! EVERYONE IS RELYING ON ME!' _Naruto roared internally to himself as he grit his teeth.

Naruto barely managed to right himself in midair; only with the strongest of determination did he manage to even move by himself. The blond reached into his back pouch and quickly removed a kunai and a seal tag with an intricate design as quickly as his deteriorating body would let him. Barely managing to wrap the seal around the kunai at a painfully slow speed before he hit the ground, Naruto threw the projectile at the retreating chakra body of the Kyuubi. This was all he could do; his physical condition was at its lowest, and his mind was shutting down. If he failed, that was it. He could do nothing more at this moment but hope.

'_I'm not letting you go!' _

Madara stared on impassively at the fallen blond and his approaching kunai, uncaring and indifferent to the fallen blond; all of his plans should now proceed smoothly with that problem child out of the way. He knew that Naruto was a distinguished user of seals, but he was certain that there was nothing that the 'weak' child could do now that all of the tailed beasts and the chakra construct of the Kyuubi were in his chains.

Naruto could only stare as his kunai went closer and closer to his partner. Time began to slow down. If the kunai reached the Kyuubi in time, then he might have a chance to win and survive. However, if the kunai did not reach the chakra construct of his Bijuu in time…then he would definitely die and the whole Shinobi Alliance would fall to the Moon Eye plan.

'_Please make it!' _Naruto screamed internally; at this point, he wasn't even able to move his mouth.

Right before Madara brought all of the chained tailed beasts to himself, a flash of light erupted, enveloping and spreading over the whole battlefield. All of the shinobi in the alliance force raised their arms to shield their eyes from the blinding light, despite the fact that they were miles away from the main conflict.

Madara Uchiha stared on passively, his eyes staring coldly at the light without batting an eyelash.

When the light had dissipated, the scene before the legendary shinobi made him widen his eyes slightly in shock, but he kept that emotion in check, keeping the ever famous stoic Uchiha look on his face. However, internally, Madara was going through a mental storm and could not understand how the blond had survived.

The blond was standing tall and proud once more, the last bits of orange chakra receding into his stomach as a haori with tattoos and lines appeared once more around the blond. His blue eyes that were a moment before closing from almost dying were now open wide with determination. His orange colored eyes with a cross looked up and zoned in on his final opponent, looking down on him from his tall summon.

"_**Nice job, Naruto. But what did you do**__?" _Naruto let out a breath of relief when he heard that deep voice in his mind. The legendary shinobi still had not moved, and that unnerved the blond slightly, but he would bide his time to prepare.

"_I threw a seal that attached to you which would immediately seal yourself back into me. It's a abberation of my Tou-san's __**Hiraishin**__ (__**Flying Thunder God**__). Without technical terms, I can move the things that my seal touches near my own body, but in this case, I just redirected you back into my body. Because the seal was previously broken, however…there is no seal blocking you now." _Naruto remarked with a slight frown, realizing that the cage was open. Not that he really minded; he knew Kurama would stand by his side and fight the 'cursed Uchiha'. The question was afterwards.

Kyuubi immediately began to laugh with glee and…was that sadism? The strongest of the tailed beasts walked until he was in front of the tall, metal bars that had prevented him from leaving for decades. Giving it an experimental push, Kurama was pleased with the results; it opened.

"_I may not be the same level as my Tou-san or my Kaa-chan when it comes to seals, but with this development…we can completely merge and perform a true __**Bijuu**__**Mode.**__" _

Kurama cackled in ecstasy, his laughter now reaching a new height of maniacal glee. Finally, the chance to get out of his cursed cage and destroy everything in his path was before him. He accepted it without a second thought; years of pent up energy was residing in him, and it was finally time for it to be let out him a giant explosion of chakra when he went all out.

"_**Naruto, I'm warning you right now. This will be extremely dangerous. We will be merging our chakras for the short time we go into our complete transformation but…**__" _

"_Shut up and do it already, you damned fox! You know nothing is going to stop me now! Not you or even my parents, so let's get this damn show on the road, 'ttebayo! That bastard is going down!" _Naruto interrupted Kurama, his voice resonating in his mindscape. Kurama simply chuckled, having expected that answer from his container.

"_**You don't disappoint, Naruto. Then-"**_

"_**Let's get WILD**__/Let's do this, 'ttebayo!" _The two roared at the same time.

Madara, who was still looking on impassively, suddenly took on a battle stance when he noted the blond's chakra levels increasing to exceptional levels. It quickly rose to the capping point of his **Bijuu Sage Mode**. However, instead of slowing down or stopping at the peak of his chakra level, the blond's chakra continued to explode, growing larger and larger, now exceeding Madara's and Hashirama's chakra levels combined at their primes. By the time the chakra growth finally began to slow down, its density was at such a level that it actually began to _press_down on the legendary shinobi, and he ground underneath the blond began to crack and split from the intense pressure.

"**Here I come**!" The blond snarled in a somewhat demonic tone. His voice had converged with the Kyuubi's, making it seem as if the two were speaking together. Naruto flashed forwards, the ground exploding under his feet. Not even a moment later, Naruto appeared in front of Madara in an orange flash, a **Rasengan** already fully formed in his right hand. Anyone else wouldn't have been able to see the blond's insane speed or movement, but Madara wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination; he had the Rinnegan and the highest echelon of the Sharingan.

Madara dodged the incoming **Rasengan** and immediately retaliated with a lightning-fast punch that made Naruto go flying back. However, 'Naruto' dispersed in a cloud of smoke after taking the solid hit, revealing that it was a clone.

'_When did he make a clone? I couldn't even notice with my Rinnegan!' _Madara thought to himself; although he had experience and technique under his belt, he would now have to act cautiously. It may just save his life in this case, now that the blond was much stronger than moments before.

However, the black haired shinobi received no respite. A fully formed **Rasenshuriken** was already homing in his direction from behind. The targeted shinboi felt a small feeling of disappointment hit him; the blond was still acting so predictably, so victory wouldn't be too difficult. And here he thought he would have a challenge that equaled or surpassed Hashirama.

Simply moving his hand towards the dangerous kinjutsu, Madara began to absorb the kinjutsu. However, the deadly attack suddenly dispersed into smoke, revealing a smirking clone with another **Rasenshuriken **at the ready. Madara widened his eyes in surprise, immediately moving up both of his hands in a position that Naruto knew too well.

"**Shinra Tensei**!" The clone flew backwards, dispelling in a cloud of smoke. There was no other way for Madara to prevent that attack from hitting him. The speed at which the clone was approaching him was ridiculous, even faster than the Raikage with his **Lightning Armor** activated. If the attack had hit, there was a very small possibility the legendary shinobi would have survived; the fact that his chakra points would have been destroyed only increased the high chances for his death.

However, again leaving no time for Madara to muse on his situation, another **Bijuu Mode **clone suddenly appeared behind Madara, his body glowing an even brighter orange. The **Rasenshurken** in his hands began to turn somewhat purple as two chakra arms rotated around the spinning sphere, eventually creating a **Bijuu Rasenshuriken. **Strike the small possibility for survival; anyone hit by _that_ ability would surely be killed. Madara could see the amount of chakra placed into the ability and how deadly the technique truly was with his Rinnegan; for Kami's sake, even without his eyes, he could _feel_ the ridiculous amount of chakra placed into the ability. There was no way he would let himself by hit by that technique.

"**Your five seconds aren't up yet, so TAKE THIS**!" Naruto yelled out as he threw the gigantic spiraling sphere.

'_This has to finish it!' _Naruto decided internally, only to widen his eyes in disbelief.

Madara once again merely moved his hands in front of him to suck in the chakra intensive ability.

'_What the hell! His eyes are so ridiculous! There should be a limit to how much his ability can absorb!' _The blond complained. Seriously, the Rinnegan was stupidly overpowered.

However, instead of feeling disappointment, Naruto's frown slowly grew into a smirk, his feral features becoming even more sinister and animal-like.

"Caught you," he said before dispelling. Madara heard this right before being struck from below, a **Rasenshuriken** appearing from under the ground. The moment that he was hit by the **Rasenshuriken**, he stopped absorbing the **Bijuu Rasenshuriken **from the sudden impact. The **Bijuu Rasenshuriken **flew forwards once more, and this time struck true. A large explosion rocked the very earth for miles around, creating splits and cracks on the ground, some areas splitting up large enough to make a fissure.

"What happened?"

"What's going on?"

Many of the remaining ninjas of the Shinobi Alliance were confused and worried about the impact. If Madara had that kind of potential, which they knew he had from the fact he could make meteors fall out of the sky, then what was awaiting them? However, Hinata's next words brought relief and exhilaration to all of the ninjas and the Kages.

"It was Naruto!" The lavender-eyed Hyuuga stated, yelling it so that all of the ninjas could hear. The ninjas began cheer, seeing the possible end of the battle.

Back at the battlefield, a large cloud of dust screened Naruto's view. However, that small detail didn't prevent jinchurriki from creating clones and throwing hundreds of kunais with specially made explosive tags. Again, another heavy explosion shook the earth, but the level of destruction was not comparable to that of the **Bijuu Rasenshuriken**. After he had thrown all but a few of his weapons, Naruto waited, staring intently into the clouds of dust to see what happened to the Uchiha. Naruto quickly allowed himself a moment to think about the other Uchiha, Sasuke.

'_I can feel Sasuke's energy returning. Good…he's alive.'_

Naruto's **Sage Mode **disappeared when its time ran out. Heavy exhaustion immediately took its place, but the **Bijuu** **Mode** continued to remain on Naruto, and it didn't seem like it would be disappearing too soon.

"_**We can only hold onto this transformation for about another minute now that your Sage Mode ran out, Naruto. What will you do?**__" _Naruto smirked in response as he crossed his arms.

"_Don't tell me you didn't see it, you almighty fox?"_ Naruto taunted, a wide smirk in place as his orange eyes zoned in on where he felt all of the negative emotions coming nine-tailed fox snorted in response, but inwardly, he was curious. What did Naruto do that even he, the almighty demon, couldn't see?

When the smoke and dust had cleared, Madara was standing, but obviously with some difficulty. Instead of succumbing to the torturous pain, the man began to yell with exertion as his perfect **Susanoo** appeared over him, looming hundreds of feet tall over the blond. Naruto just shook his head, his smirk still in place.

"You lose. **Fuuin** **(Seal)**!" Suddenly, Madara's ultimate defense disappeared. The last enemy felt himself begin to lose his chakra and his body begin to disappear into another realm, knowing the feeling from using **Kamui** on himself. He looked up at the blond with hatred when he felt that he couldn't prevent the teleportation.

"What have you done?" He said in an ice cold tone, but even Naruto could see the cracks starting to become apparent. The shinobi in front of his was going insane from rage now this his grand plans seemed to be at an end. Naruto released his **Bijuu Mode**, his glowing orange eyes turning to cold, dead blue eyes. He immediately felt the strain of using the completed **Bijuu Mode** but kept the pain and stress hidden under his composed gaze. He stared at Madara and looked down at the laying figure of the legendary shinobi.

"I'm only paying you back with interest. You have killed my friends and my family. And so, I have decided that your punishment would be to be sealed in my creation: a pocket dimension where you can't use your own teleportation techniques because your chakra would have already been sealed away, never to be in your grasp again." At this point, Naruto's composed gaze changed to one of sarcasm and anger. "Perfect, isn't it? The very cursed eye that could help people to teleport cannot be used in my realm. Humiliation for such a legendary shinobi is fitting for someone like you! You won't be able to use the Rinnegan because you have no ability to use chakra anymore. You won't be able to kill anyone anymore. In fact, you only have another twenty seconds until all of your chakra disappears, becoming latent in your body until the day you die in my dimension. You, Madara Uchiha, have failed." Slightly panting after his short speech, Naruto took a moment regained his breath.

"_**You were saying that you weren't a Seal Master? And it's good to know you're taking that sadist nature from me.**__" _Naruto coughed mentally and told Kurama to shut up.

"I see…I don't need to know when you did it but…this will be my final action then before I leave this world forever," Madara grunted him his position on the floor, already knowing the futility of fighting against a seal that had been placed against him. Naruto suddenly felt the chakra in the vulnerable shinobi increase to heightened measures.

"_He's going to kill himself if he uses chakra to that level when he's that low!"_ Naruto thought to himself in confusion; Kurama, unlike his container, already knew what the insane man was doing.

"_**Naruto, get out of the way!**__" _Kurama warned. Naruto tried to respond, but too late. His body was already being sucked up by the Uchiha's last jutsu. Madara, seeing the blond's body slowly swirling into a portal that he created, closed his eyes. Naruto was too drained to move freely, and like Madara, already knew the futility of fighting back this time. He sure as hell wasn't one to give up, but even he wasn't that stupid. Fighting in the war and seeing his friends die had made him more realistic and understanding of situations. And his situation right now was…unavoidable.

"If I will die, then the shinobis will never have their hero back." Madara stated with a final smirk before dying. The only sign that the man had gone to the next life was that Naruto could not feel Madara's chakra any longer, which was a relief. His friends and family would finally be able to live, and his purpose in life seemed complete. Peace.

As his final action in this world, Naruto slowly scrawled out a last message onto a sealing paper and dropped it on the ground wrapped around a kunai. Right when the kunai hit the dirt, Naruto disappeared.

Hinata, who had seen everything occur, rushed from her position and sprinted to where Naruto last stood. Despite the pain of overexertion and chakra exhaustion taking over her body, she continued to run. When she reached the scarred battlefield, she ignored the deceased enemy and went straight for the paper and kunai. On it were scrawled two barely legible words in Naruto's handwriting that would make all that were close to the blond cry from the loss of a precious person.

"_Goodbye, everyone."_

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Mindscape)**

"And I'm back in this sewer again. How'd I do, Kurama?" The fox snorted, but grinned with a feral smirk.

"**Not bad, kit. Not bad at all. We finally killed Madara and ended the war, even if the consequence was that you had to leave the Hidden Nations."** Naruto stopped floating in the sewer water and got off his back in favor of standing on top of the water.

Giving the fox a confused look with a tilted head, he asked, "What are you talking about just "me" for? Aren't you in the same boat?"

As if to answer his question, the fox's body started to glow, becoming ephemeral. Chakra began to escape from the body of the fox, but instead of the normal red and deep crimson, it was a gold color…the color of purified chakra.

"**Bijuus like us cannot leave dimensions. We would mess up timelines and create huge paradoxes, which you would have known if you had actually carefully read your father's notes about space/time techniques. The fact that you are even able to leave with your status as jinchuriki is strange by itself. In fact, there are already changes being made to your body."** Naruto looked down at his body and noticed that his hands were smaller and that his favorite jumpsuit and sage clothing had strangely become too large for him. What he was noticed was that the Kyuubi's chakra levels were increasing. The blond looked up at the fox with a worried and devastated look.

"NO! You can't do that, Kurama! We're partners! A jinchuriki isn't one without his Bijuu!" Naruto cried out, his voice cracking. Tears made its way to the blond's eyes, but he didn't rub them away. It was just water…men don't cry…that's what he told Inari…he wasn't crying.

Despite the fact that the fox had given him hell in his early years, Kurama was the one constant in Naruto's life that had never left him. Especially in their last year together, the demon fox and the sage had become somewhat close to friends, relying on the other and helping the other complete their goals; one wanted to destroy Madara, and the other wanted to bring peace to the nations. Both had succeeded.

Kurama's smirk dropped slightly at Naruto's plea and the sight of tears running down his face, but his grin returned when he noticed Naruto was still shrinking in size until he returned to his early teen years.

"**You're such a loud brat again, huh? I may be powerful and almighty, but even I cannot go from dimension to dimension. However, my other half is rejoining with me, meaning that you will have full access to my chakra in whatever new dimension you end up in. Keh, you won't even need to ask me for permission anymore." **Kurama explained, trying to lighten the mood. Naruto stared up at the fox in its cage in silence, hiccupping from trying to force down his rising emotions. When he felt he had regained control of himself to an acceptable level, he slowly walked up to the cage and raised his fist, tears silently running down his face.

"Thanks Kurama…for everything. For being an asshole. For making me suffer in my early years but giving me the best last year a shinobi could ask for. For being my partner…and my friend. But what will happen to you when I disappear from this dimension, then?" Kurama's smirk widened as he brought his fist forwards to meet the blond's in a fist bump.

"I'll finally be free, roaming the Elemental Nations once more with my chakra complete once more. I'll be seeing you, Naruto." And with that, Kurama disappeared, his golden chakra dispersing from the cage and escaping into the whole sewer. Naruto kept his fist raised before he broke down and began to cry uncontrollably, the hiccups returning as dropped to his knees as slammed his fist on the ground repeatedly, each strike shaking the mindscape from the extraordinary force from each strike. The implications of leaving his home finally hit him like lightning. No more friends, no baa-chan, no Sakura, no Shizune, no Shikamaru…and not even Kurama. His constant was now gone from his life.

The dam of emotions flooded. What would happen in the new dimension he would end up in? He could end up anywhere, and anything could happen to him. Would the people he would meet have the same values as he? Would they even be people? Eventually, the blond calmed down and forced himself to smile; sulking and acting depressed were for the weak with nothing better to do. Naruto regained his composure and began to think methodically through the infinite possibilities, but ended up sitting down and resting his chin against his palm as he waited (im)patiently

"Well, if worst comes to worst, like ending up in space, I can go into my own dimension and study my tou-san's signature technique to teleport to a world. Do I still have the notes? Wait…" Naruto's mood lifted as he remembered that he had not only copied the notes for the **Hiraishin**, but also the whole jutsu index inside the **Forbidden Scroll** when he was preparing for his final battle… which he had sealed into his skin. When training, he had learned a surprising amount of techniques due to both the **Kage Bunshin **and a surprising development: he realized that he not only had a major affinity for wind, which he already knew, but also two slightly smaller affinities for lightning and water. Those two extra affinities made training different elemental jutsus that much easier, but he had not yet mastered the complete manipulation of his sub-affinities yet.

Suddenly, Naruto was forced out of his mindscape. Opening his eyes in surprise, he was exposed to his new surroundings. His blue eyes noticed spinning circular gates, which he was in the center of as he floated in this endless loop of space. The gates never ended, and he noticed that he wasn't able to leave the large circles, no matter what he did. The horizon, if that was what it was, was black and orange, consistently changing as he went along the gates.

"Woah…this is pretty cool. But where am I? Well that was a stupid question…no one's going to answer me because I'm alone in here." Naruto said to himself with a pout, his normal attitude already showing signs of returning.

After nearly thirty minutes of continuous floating, a small tear opened up in the space, which Naruto fell into. For some reason, the blond knocked out when he fell through the small space gate, but that reason remains unknown.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Fairy Tail's Guild Hall)**

Makarov, the third guild master of Fairy Tail, took a large sip from his cup of beer and set the cup back on the counter. He was currently relaxing as he stared at his guild members, his children, fighting again and creating another ruckus. The old man let out a sigh of content, completely fine with letting the bar fight continue as long as it didn't get to out of hand.

Mira was having one of her usual fights with Erza. As the two butted heads, lightning cackled between the two in a show of heavy rivalry. Gray and Natsu were also having their famous rivalry battle in another part of the guild hall, although neither of the two was using their respective magic. And of course, the rest of the guild was fighting as well, throwing beer bottles and tables, quickly making the small skirmish into an all out bar battle. Makarov took another sip of his beer and looked up. Laxus had his headphones on and was staring down at the bar fight with an apathetic look, but Makarov could tell that even his usually stoic grandson wanted to get into the middle of things. However, there was no one really strong enough in there to make him interested since Gildarts was currently taking a mission that would last another month.

For a moment, Makarov noted a high level magical release, but he quickly dismissed it. He assumed that someone was training or currently on a mission. However, when he felt the magical release fluctuating uncontrollably and approaching the guild building, Makarov dropped his content expression and became serious. He spread out his senses and realized that it was coming from above the building, and it was coming fast. In fact, it should have struck about –

"WAAAH! WHAT THE HELL!" The guild members yelled out or shrieked in unison. All of the members raised their weapons or got into a fighting stance, prepared to take down the intruder. However, when the smoke dispelled, what was revealed to crash through the ceiling and create a small crater on the guild floor was –

"A child? What's a kid doing here?" One of the members asked. The rest of the guild members just shook their head in a similar state of confusion. No one had the slightest idea what a child was doing in the guild, especially one that had fallen through the ceiling.

"FIGHT ME!" Natsu, being the idiot that he was, yelled out his challenge as he lit his hands on fire to fight. He was promptly struck down when an irritated Erza punched the pink-haired dragonslayer in the jaw, sending Natsu crashing into one of the guild's walls. Gray immediately began to sweat profusely as Erza turned her sights onto the ice mage.

"Were you fighting with Natsu again?" Gray shook his head over and over again. Screw his pride; Erza was a monster and hit harder than Elfman when she was pissed.

The guild members continued to stare at the child, all of them sympathetic for him when the smoke had completely cleared to give a perfect view of the platinum-haired youth. They all ignored their previous defensive thoughts and ran towards the unconscious boy, noting that all of his clothes were torn and were much too large for the small child, making the older guild members wonder what the small blond had gone through in his past. When they were directly above him, a small detail that everyone noticed was that he had three small whiskers on each cheek.

Makarov was still sitting on the bar counter, but now he was staring at the child in interest and worry. Interest because the child had been the one to give off enough magic presence to indicate he had at least A-class mage reserves, and worry because the child was injured and unconscious. However, he was probably the only one to notice that before the small child had crash landed into the guild hall, a golden _thing_ instinctively wrapped around the unconscious blond and created a sort of cushion and extended to the ground to slow down the fall, completely nullifying any damage that could have happened to the small child. If he had fallen without any cushioning…it was quite safe to say that the youngster would have been severely injured.

Many of the women in the guild squealed when they heard the blond purr. One of the interested girls, Cana, had scratched a whisker on the blond's cheek, eliciting the somewhat feline response. The brunette giggled and continued to play with the unconscious blond's whiskers, resulting in the same response each and every time, much to the delight of the female side of the guild. The boys and men began to pout as rain clouds formed over their heads from the lack of attention from the opposite sex…except for Natsu who was still cowering against the wall, staring frightfully back at Erza alongside Gray. Not exactly the attention the any man would be aiming for.

Makarov looked up once more to the second floor and saw that his grandson had lost his apathetic and stoic look and had taken one of interest. The lightning mage had noticed that inner strength that the small child had and was immediately interested but was slightly disappointed when he noticed that the blond was unconscious. However, that didn't take away his interest or his confusion as to where the small child had come from.

The guild master took another drink from his cup and stared at the large circle in the middle of the guild hall. He smiled for a moment.

"_Fairy Tail really does treat everyone like a family, even if they don't know them."_

Many of the women were talking about how cute the blond was. Makarov began to cry to himself as well, tears comically streaming down his face from the lack of attention as master of the guild. How the blond had taken all of the attention away from every single man in just a minute was a true question. No man should ever allow that to happen…especially Elfman. However, the master got over his major issue quite quickly, deciding to deal with getting attention from the women later on. There were more pressing issues, for example –

"GET THAT CHILD TO THE INFIRMARY!" Makarov ordered loudly from his position, loud enough for the whole guild to hear. Immediately, all of the women responded, every one of them carrying the blond as if he were the most delicate thing in the world. The ones that weren't carrying him were just following and staring at the adorable face the sleeping blond made. Somehow, the men's depressive rain clouds became larger, and Makarov's stream of tears became even wider and stronger, creating a puddle beneath the small man.

Yes, things would definitely get interesting in the guild in time.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I hope this wasn't too cliché, because I know the Kamui dimension hopping is used a lot, but I don't want Naruto to be born in Earthland. **

**Please leave nice and long reviews, and no flames. I don't like watching red embers floating around my screen. Helpful criticism, we're all good. Flaming and raging, I'm going to cry. **

**And now I have to re-read the Fairy Tail manga because I haven't read it in a while, kind of forgot some details, and have to catch up about a hundred chapters. Hey, school is a pretty time-intensive thing, don't ya know? **


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Fairy Tail!

**Chapter 1: Welcome to Fairy Tail!**

**A/N: Wow…I was not expecting that much reception to my story…holy…You guys are the best! Thank you all for your reviews, follows, and favorites! Thanks for the critiques and I'll try to explain some stuff…later. This is a short chapter. Next chapter is when things get longer, don't worry. This chapter was mainly for fun.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 1 START**

"_Ugh…I hate hospitals so much." _Those were the first thoughts that ran through Naruto's head. He opened his eyes and adjusted to the light quickly, an essential quality for any ninja; they had to be able to adjust to any situations. Naruto blinked a few times and wiggled around for a moment, feeling the softness of the cushion underneath him, and his head resting against a soft pillow.

"_Wherever I am, it has better reception than the Elemental Nations. I would probably be in a cell right now…wait, I'm younger, that's right. But still, even young ninjas were dangerous. Itachi is the perfect example."_

Naruto sat up in bed and propped himself against the wall, his body still stressed from using the completed **Bijuu Sage Mode **from only a few hours before. The blonde quickly analyzed his surroundings and satisfied himself with the fact that no one was nearby, a small habit he had gained during the war. It was early in the morning, close to dawn. Naruto turned over to the window next to him and was greeted by a rising sun, gracefully coming over the town buildings and mountains. He stared as he stayed still, enraptured by the sight for a moment, before turning back to his room.

It wasn't a large room, but it wasn't small either. Nearly fifteen by fifteen, the room contained a comfortable bed that Naruto was currently sitting on, a cabinet on the opposite end of the room left of the door which was beside a mirror, a window above the bed, and a closet next to the bed.

Naruto threw his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, although with some trouble since he was still tired. He closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate and realized that his chakra level was low, and his capacity had dropped significantly during the time he had been unconscious. He entered his mindscape quickly and found out why.

The majority of the golden chakra and entered the cage and was slowly exiting to the sewer. Naruto caught on to the fact that the sewer was his current chakra capacity, which currently had about twenty percent of the Kyuubi's purified chakra, and that the rest were still in the cage, held back by nothing.

"It must be because my body can't handle all of that chakra yet. However, since my tenketsus are much wider with that much chakra, I wouldn't be surprised if I could control all of it in a few years. Kami, this sucks. More chakra means that my already awful chakra control is going to be shot! Well, since I have less chakra now, my control should have gone up, right?" Naruto sat down on the sewer in a lotus position and focused in on his body and his chakra points. He was slightly surprised to notice that his golden chakra was flowing much faster than his normal blue chakra. Also, the purified chakra was much more potent and in much more quantity than the blue chakra. Then, the young blonde opened his eyes and lifted his head to give an irritated glance at the giant cage full of purified chakra.

"Damn it. My chakra is even worse because the potency of the chakra is making it even harder to control. Screw new techniques and my **Rasengan** or even my variants; I'm going to have to practice chakra control until I'm at least Chunnin level again. But what is strange are the floating lights that are just flying around the sewer; I've never seen them before. They feel…light compared to the chakra I have."

The spiky-haired blonde stood up on top of the sewer water and reached for one of the floating lights. When one of the particles of light gently rested against his finger, Naruto closed his eyes and went into a sensory mode. Immediately opening his eyes in surprise, he stared at the small light in shock before smirking.

"_This could be helpful…very helpful. I could either use a seal to transfer this random energy into chakra or maybe I could use it when my chakra becomes low as a last resort. But then again…I don't even know what kind of world I'm in yet. Therefore, up I get."_

Naruto exited his mindscape and stood up. Then, walking over to the mirror near the door, he glanced at himself. He was short again, which he grudgingly noted.

"_I can't just eat ramen this time around. I'll actually eat some healthy food during my puberty years since I actually have a chance to now…as long as I'm not discriminated against. Let's see. Same anorexic and malnourished body during my prankster years, which isn't good. I'm going to need to train to make all my muscles leaner again. I'm _around_ four feet ten inches…this really sucks, 'ttebayo. But I lost all of my scars during the war and I don't have the __**Chidori**__ mark where Sasuke stabbed me."_ Naruto gave himself a playful sneer and stuck out his tongue at his reflection, his counterpart doing the same.

"At least I still have my whiskers …something I can remember Kurama by other than his chakra." With that, Naruto opened the door and walked out of the room, completely ignoring of the fact that he only had boxers on.

Naruto walked down the hall and down some stairs, the sounds of a bar fights reaching his ears. Interested, he quickened his steps until he reached a corner. Turning around, he was completely taken aback by the scene before him. A full out bar fight was occurring, but what made Naruto even more confused was that every single person was smiling. What made the blonde even more bewildered was that some people began to pull out guns from the air? What? One large man with long white hair made his arm ridiculously gigantic and punched someone with it, sending the victim through one of the guild walls. Another teenager around Naruto's age lit his hands on fire to punch another teen that was currently naked. Naruto's mind was running on overdrive at this point as the blonde was completely confused.

"They're just controlling the flames and ice…as if they were using magic." He muttered silently to himself, not knowing just how right he was with that small observation. But scene before him made Naruto smile; he was in a world where fighting wasn't strange and there was some sort of ability usage similar to chakra. That was all he needed to know before he walked down the stairs to the guild hall with a wide smile on his face, regardless of his current condition and clothing…or lack thereof.

Naruto walked over to the bar counter and saw a small old man contentedly drinking beer as he watched the guild members fight. The blonde, however, immediately noticed the way the old man was relaxing and eyeing the situation. Despite the fact that the small man seemed relaxed, he was on a constant patrol, as if ready to jump into the fray at a moment's notice, which Naruto compared to a leader of sorts. So, Naruto walked over to the old man with some difficulty from an aching body and sat on a stool next to the old man.

"Is it always like this?" The old master turned his head and was appalled to see how skinny the blonde looked. However, he quickly calmed down when he saw that behind the skinny nature of the blonde was lean muscle mass and a surprisingly speed oriented body that was amazingly durable.

Naruto was currently staring at the ensuing full blown bar battle with idle interest. The blonde's cerulean flickered back and forth throughout the guild, catching the highlights of each miniscule battle. Every once in a while, the blonde would give out a small snort or smirk out of plain amusement, giving out a large one when Gray had discarded his boxers when it caught on fire. After about ten seconds, the master responded.

"I'm surprised you don't think this is strange at all." The blonde waved his hand nonchalantly as if to wave off the surprised tone from the master. He gave an eye-smile and grinned wide enough to show his canines.

"I've seen some pretty bad quirks. I'm not new to this stuff, don't worry." The master raised his eyebrows at that information.

"Like you walking around in your boxers?" The blonde opened his eyes and smirked in response.

"Better than going around naked and fighting with ice," Naruto replied without missing a beat.

"Duly noted," the master responded before giving a loud belly laugh, the old man's eyes crinkling upwards in amusement. The kid was good. When Makarov had calmed down, he continued their stalled conversation. "So, why are you here, little one?" The blonde seemed to twitch slightly at the name the master gave him. Makarov saw it but decided not to say anything and see where the conversation would now flow to. He found it interesting that the high magic reserves that the child had shown for only a moment before crashing into Fairy Tail's guild building had all but disappeared. Now, the blonde was giving off almost no presence, which was how the blonde had sat next to the master without gaining his attention beforehand.

"_How he got next to me after just waking up in that condition is something I don't understand. Right now, I can feel his magic reserves…and it is much lower than when he had crashed through the ceiling. This is an interesting child."_ Makarov thought to himself as he took another drink from his cup of beer.

"I'm twelve, and I'm not that short!" The blonde huffed out. Then, he leaned his back against the counter and continued to watch the fights.

"Do you know magic?" The master asked, trying to steer the conversation into a different direction. The blonde smiled for a moment, as if laughing at the absurdity of the question.

"_Wait, this is a different world. We used chakra in the Elemental Nations. Maybe they use magic here. That would explain what those floating lights were in my mindscape."_ Naruto thought to himself before responding.

"Isn't it right in front of me, jiji-san?" The master snorted at the name that blonde gave him.

"_However, this means that he isn't new or unfamiliar with the concept of magic. Maybe he can join the guild. He is old enough anyways. First off, however…"_

"Don't you have family waiting for you?" Immediately, Naruto's face fell slightly, despite the fact he wanted to keep his history hidden. This was one thing he couldn't hide. If he had Kurama at least, then he would've been able to hide his pain, but now…he truly had nothing to remind him of his family back home.

"I'm an orphan, jiji-san." For some reason, the way the child spoke and had looked down on the ground made Makarov want to help the child as much as he could. So, he decided that his first idea would be the best route.

"What is your name?" Naruto raised his head and stared at the old man before pointing at himself with his thumb. He grinned widely, closing his eyes with an extremely wide smile.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Makarov chuckled, taking a moment to glance at the blonde before turning back to the guild fight to make sure nothing went too out of hand.

"Someone named you Maelstrom. Nice name." Naruto opened his eyes his surprise. The old man had actually understood the meaning of his name without the blonde having to tell him the actual meaning. "So Naruto, how would you like to join Fairy Tail?" Naruto raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"What's Fairy Tail?" Makarov face-faulted on the bar counter, making the table shake slightly. Naruto just continued to stare quizzically at the old man, still confused. However, the blonde did find it funny that the old man just dropped and face-planted onto the counter when he was sitting down. Eventually, the master sat back up and coughed into his fist, as if to pretend the previous event had never happened. Makarov stared at the boy suspiciously, who stared right back with the same confused expression on his face.

"You don't know what Fairy Tail is?" Makarov asked unbelievingly. Naruto shook his head once in denial, still sporting the same bemused face.

"_Goodness, he's even more clueless than Natsu…at least he knew what a guild and what Fairy Tail was."_

"Did you live under a rock or something, Naruto? How do you not know Fairy Tail, one of the most famous guilds in all of Fiore? Goodness, you're sitting in a bar counter inside the strongest guild!" Naruto widened his eyes before smiling cheekily.

"Would you be surprised if I said I did come from under a rock?" Makarov face-faulted again, this time slamming hard enough onto the surface to make his beer cup fall off the counter. Naruto caught it and placed it back onto the counter calmly, waiting for the master to get back up. However, he couldn't help but snigger when he saw a red-haired girl with armor manhandling the two boys that were previously using fire and ice.

Again, when Makarov sat back up, the guild master immediately continued his conversation.

"Fairy Tail is a guild, and we treat all of our members like family. I am the third Guild Master of Fairy Tail which was originally established by Mavis, our first Guild Master. She came up with the name because she wondered if fairies had tails." Makarov smiled wistfully, remembering his early years before he continued. "In her words, 'Do fairies really have tails? Do they even exist? Like them, this place is an eternal adventure…a never ending adventure.' So how about it, Naruto? Would you like to become a part of our family? To be a part of our guild and to start anew and to create a bright future?"

Naruto turned over and looked up at the guild master. For a moment, it seemed that tears were brimming on the blonde's eyes.

"_I can have…a family again. Maybe…I can have another chance at having a family…like Baa-chan, Shizune nee-chan, everyone."_ Naruto nodded and was about to respond until a large explosion shook the guild hall, making Naruto stumble slightly in his seat. Both master and child turned to see what the occurrence was only to find that every single guild member was on the floor, nearly passed out. Well, they had fought for nearly thirty minutes, but that wasn't the cause. Mira had decided to go into her full **Satan Soul**, and she had absolutely stomped over all of the other members from their surprise at her actually going all out. Erza was still conscious and was continuing to manhandle Gray and Natsu. Gray was still naked. Naruto found it strange that the red-head didn't care about the fact that boy was wearing no clothes, but who was he to say anything.

Naruto took a moment to remain silent before responding with another cheeky smile of his.

"You have one dysfunctional family, Master-san." Makarov just began to cry, tears streaming down his face as he stared at the guild hall, going through the expenses in his head to repair all of the damage.

"_If we can blow things up…I think I'll fit right in!" _Naruto thought to himself, imagining himself using his smaller explosive tags during a bar fight. He shook his head before a massive grin replaced his smaller smirk. _"Of course…I'm going to do pranks! Hehehe…"_

Naruto began to chuckle wildly inside him mind. Makarov, who was completely oblivious to what the blonde was thinking, began to cry even more as he felt a strange tingle pass through his body, warning him about future destruction…much more destruction.

**Chapter End.**

**Omake: Naruto ruins the Moon Eye plan (thanks to Vallavarayan for giving me a random idea)**

"Quickly, Gaara, go to the moon and prepare to slam Naruto." Gaara saluted to Tsuande before flying away in his sand. The Fifth Hokage turned to Naruto, who was pale and sweating in fear.

"Baa-chan, are you sure this is a good idea?" Tsunade smiled at Naruto widely…a bit too widely. Her face became shadowed, giving the busty blonde a ghastly look.

"Naruto-chan. Just go into your **Bijuu Sage Mode** so this doesn't hurt as much."

"What are you tal-AAHHHH!" Tsuande had grabbed onto Naruto's shoulder and threw him as hard as she could with her seal released. Naruto immediately went into his final transformation mode, flying into space. Flying at a ridiculous velocity, Naruto was caught by Gaara in only thirty seconds, who was currently flying around the moon. Instead of stopping Naruto, however, Naruto was caught by the sand and threw even faster at the moon. The moon began to crack and eventually broke down from the ridiculous pressure of the hit.

Tsuande and Gaara both fist-pumped into the air as they ruined Madara's Moon Eye plan, saying only one word in unison.

"Touchdown."

**A/N: …WTF is with my omake. Ahaha, whatever, it's not serious or a part of my story, so it's OK.**

**Short chapter, but I didn't have much time. I promise that next chapter will be longer. Promise. Pinky promise. Yes. **

**Please leave nice and long reviews. And no flames. I don't like those red embers attacking me and burning my skin. It hurts.**


	3. Chapter 2: An Introduction to Magic

**Chapter 2: An Introduction to Magic**

**A/N: WARNING: I AM DOING A CHALLENGE AGAINST MYSELF TO POST ONE CHAPTER A DAY regardless of length until Friday, so if there are errors and such…I apologize. Man, Fairy tail dragon slayer is crazy! 3 chapters in less than 24 hours? Respect, brosive.**

**OK, let's get a little serious here. Time to make this chapter slightly longer within the same period of time. And let's actually do some review responses, yeah?**

**Review Responses (Chapter 2…sorry Chapter 1 guys) for thankfulness and how awesome you all are:**

**Mrz90: Hey there, man. It's good to see you, haha. You know, this story seems fun to write, so I'm just going to go with it. Let's see where this story takes us, hmm?**

**Mundanebeast: hehehe…this is going to be so much fun! Yea, I want Naruto to be crafty and deceptive, not stupid like he was in canon. If he was, then what would the war have been for?**

**OverDriveXT: Yeah…don't expect these too often. Unless I make all of my chapters shorter and my other story shorter, I don't think I can do these too often. However, I can try to keep them moderately long and with some regular updates (like once a week or something).**

**The Golden Flash: Hahaha, I don't really know how to respond to this one. :D**

**Kazi9: I'm glad you like the story! Haha, I'm just wondering where this story is going to take me. It's like…there are so many possibilities and paths to go on with this story! But I have to choose one! Why….**

**CelestialxXxAngel: Haha, in honor of the Superbowl, which I don't watch, I decided to do that. :D**

**Meowy1986: Trust me, Naruto has not de-aged mentally at all. He's just having the childhood he never had. However, pranks? That's something Naruto has always done, regardless of age. He will have his mature moments, but for now, he'll be content with taking the sidelines, especially since there's Erza and the others.**

**Lightningblade49: Haha, the omake was like…hahaha. Superbowl status, derp. Hmm…if he learns how to use his potent chakra, then he definitely would be able to do it, haha.**

**BlazeMary: Thank you very much for the review. I'll try to keep it up and make it enjoyable.**

**Guardian of the inheritance: Haha, I'm glad that you like the omake. Yea, I should probably think my stories a little bit more thoroughly. Thank you for that pointer and I hope you continue to help me!**

**Gunslayer12: He will stick with his old techniques slightly, but he will go about them a different way. Instead of simply overpowering his enemies, he will focus more on tactics and strategy. However, he will get magic, as hinted in the previous chapter. Yea, I don't like it when he just reveals that he's from a different dimension. If it's not obvious, why do it, right?**

**Infurno: say what? Haha**

**The Scrap: My bad. I'm doing a challenge against myself. One chapter a day. It's hard though. My other story, I'm working on but it requires so much more planning. I have around 6k words though already, so don't worry. I'm working on it.**

**Boody-rose-love: haha. I'm trying I'm trying haha. **

**Information on the story itself for all readers: Naruto will not be using all of his techniques early on. Unlike in canon, he will be mature for his "age", but he'll have his moments. He's just living the early years that he never had. However, he will still be strong, but he won't be super overpowered. Instead, he'll focus more on tactics and strategy rather than simply overpowering the enemy.**

**So, without further adieu…**

**Chapter 2 START**

"So…master-jiji-san? What are you going to do about all of this?" Naruto asked as he waved his hand to point out the guild hall and all of its members on the floor passed out. Tables were destroyed and upturned on the floor; beer bottles and cups were broken, so glass was shining on the floor; some guns were even on the floor.

Makarov, instead of answering, just continued to comically cry, tears streaming down his face. It was as if the old man were sporting a geyser or something like that. Naruto sweatdropped before asking the master a different question since it seemed not only the bar fight was a common occurrence, which came with large damages every time, but that the master reacted almost the same every time.

"Okay…master. What can I do? I probably need new clothes and you need to sign me into the guild, right? Also, can someone escort me around the town; I'll get lost." The master stopped crying and nodded his head once in affirmation behind jumping behind the bar counter. Makarov pulled out a book from a shelf and jumped back up to the bar counter and opened it.

"So, Naruto Uzumaki. This is just the basic stuff for getting initiated into the guild. Birthday, age, birth location, where you lived, your choice of magic and your abilities, and then comes whatever random information you want to throw in there. Usually one of the women would do this but they're all knocked out." Naruto began to muse inside his head. He didn't want to give too much information and seem suspicious as a twelve year old, but if he had to, he needed some of his abilities. Taking a few moments to go through multiple possibilities and scenarios, Naruto had decided.

"For each of those in order, let's see. October tenth; I'm twelve, figure it out. Age? Twelve…hehe. Birth location, no idea. Never figured that one out. Might have been a hospital or a forest for all I care. Where I lived: I'll just stick with under a rock for that." Makarov sweatdropped, barely preventing himself from face-faulting again. Naruto just put a finger to his chin as he looked up, taking up a thoughtful look. "Hmm. My magic abilities are **Clone Magic**, **Pure Magic Manipulation**, **Seals**, and **Wind**. I don't want to give any other information. Too lazy; other people can figure it out. Besides, they should want to get to know me before they understand me."

Makarov nodded his head as he wrote everything down, agreeing with Naruto's last assessment. He was a bit surprised by the versatility of the magics that the young teen had; not only was it a versatile list, however, but it was amazingly well-rounded and surprisingly difficult. **Clone Magic**, although not considered a **Lost Magic**, was extremely difficult to pull off at masterful levels. However, **Pure Magic Manipulation** was something he had never heard of.

"_It could possibly be a __**Lost Magic**__ like __**Dragonslayer Magic**__. I'm interested to see what it can do." _Makarov thought to himself, mulling over the abilities and who the boy was.

Naruto was inwardly cringing at himself. He noticed the way that the master seemed to narrow his eyes at the magics he named.

"_Did I names of the magic the wrong? No…he's writing them all down. But still, I think I said too much. Even in the Elemental Nations, having that many abilities would have been surprising, especially being able to use clones and chakra manipulation. Meh…we'll see what happens."_

Naruto waited for the master to finish, tapping his foot on the wooden floor. He crossed his arms and turned around to stare at the guild. It was a surprisingly nice building considering the fact that there were fights almost every day. He noticed that all the tables were wooden, which he immediately agreed with. If they were metal or made of a different material, maybe they wouldn't have broken, but it would have hurt a lot more if it hit someone. Also, it just didn't match the scheme of the building.

Some girl with white hair was flaunting her recent victory in the bar fight, but that seemed to end when the red-haired girl with armor starting fighting with her. The two had lightning cackling between their foreheads. Near the other end of the guild, the two boys that the red-head was manhandling had decided to duke it out again. Naruto chuckled. How they reminded him of Sasuke and himself in their early years.

"OK, Naruto. Last thing is where do you want your stamp and in what color?" Naruto saw the Fairy Tail mark and immediately knew where he wanted it. It wouldn't feel right without some kind of mark there after having one his whole life.

"Orange," the blonde said as pointed to his stomach. Makarov nodded and stamped the mark in the middle of Naruto's stomach, right above the belly button. He didn't understand why the blonde would choose that, but he assumed it was something mental. With that, Makarov jumped back onto the counter and placed the book and stamp on said counter.

"Naruto, what do you mean by **Pure Magic Manipulation**? You seem to be quite confident in your skills. Can you show me?" Naruto gave the old master a smile before nodding his head.

"_I'm not surprised. If I was the leader, I would probably ask that first as well. I think he's slightly suspicious, but not because he's suspicious that I have too much, but that I have too little. That's weird, but I'll go with it."_

Naruto laughed sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ano, do you mind if we do this somewhere else? I don't want to mess up your guild anymore than it already is." Makarov, however, just told Naruto to go ahead.

"Nothing is going to mess it up more than it already is." Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"Um…the guild building could be destroyed." Makarov paled and immediately pulled the boy out the back door and into a clearing in a moment. Then, jumping high to a tree branch, Makarov gave Naruto the sign to demonstrate. Naruto just nodded, looking up at the master, before turning back to face the ground. Raising his fist, Naruto stared at it for a moment.

"_My fist is so small compared to before. Meh…I don't have the chakra control that I did before; at max, it's at Genin chakra control again. I'll just have to use all my remaining chakra to be able to do this even once…but I think I'll give Master-jiji-san a little scare with this one. Hehe, he might start imagining me using this during bar fights. So predictable, so predictable, hehe." _

So, with that thought process out of the way, Naruto called onto his reserves and directed his chakra to his right fist. For a moment, nothing happened as the blonde raised his right fist over his head. Then it happened. Blue and golden chakra whisk out from his arm, then began to coat his fist until it created a sort of barrier coating. Then, the two different colored chakras began to mix, contesting for dominance on the fist. Naruto stayed still for a moment with his eyes closed before suddenly opening them with determination.

"RRAAAHH!" The blonde yelled out as he brought his fist down upon the earth. Makarov was forced to jump away from his perching branch as the ground flew upwards, rocks and dirt flying everywhere. The master, as Naruto had expected, immediately began to pale from the prospect of the blonde using the ability inside the guild or any mission for that matter. The damage costs would be ridiculous!

When the dust had settled, Makarov was shaken at the sight before him. Whatever had coated his arm had prevented any damage to the blonde's right arm. The whole clearing, nearly twenty meters long, had been replaced with a crater with the blonde at the bottom. However, the damage did not stop there, going further past the clearing and into part of the forest, toppling trees and shrubberies.

"_It seems that coating was __**Pure Magic Manipulation**__. Amazing! For a child to use that kind of magic at such a young age, he would be truly powerful in only a few years!"_

The blonde looked up from the epicenter of the crater and smiled at the master, giving the old man a thumbs-up and an eye-smile. When the blonde took his first step to go up the marred earth, he stumbled and fell to the ground from chakra exhaustion. Landing heavily, not even able to use his arms to soften the fall, Naruto crashed to the ground, raising a small cloud of dust.

"Meh, I don't think I've recovered completely yet. My reserves are so low right now," Naruto said seemingly to no one. Makarov jumped down and landed next to Naruto and picked the blonde up, making Naruto to lean against the short master's shoulder.

"But still, that is very impressive, Naruto-chan. How many times do you think you would be able to do that in a fight?" Naruto wasn't even able to move his legs from exhaustion, so his feet were dragging against the dirt and rocks on the ground. He lifted his head up slightly to the sky above, staring at the lazy clouds passing through in the sky.

"Maybe five or six times at most until my control improves. However, when I do, I can pretty much do anything with the manipulation; I can create small strings to grab onto things, create chains to prevent someone from moving, and a ton of other things as long as I can imagine it." Makarov smiled as he continued to drag the blonde towards the guild hall, opening the back door and taking the blonde inside. Throughout the whole guild hall, all of the members were still on the floor unconscious, either prone or face up. Some were in random positions. On the left side of the guild, there was a man-shaped hole, most likely where Elfman had hit the guild member.

"Are there any clothes? I don't really want to walk around in boxers when they wake up." Makarov chuckled and nodded his head.

"We have some clothes behind the bar counter that should be your size, which I find somewhat impressive." Naruto grunted in response, slightly annoyed by the master's small remark on Naruto's size and height.

"And where do they find clothing your size, hmm?" Naruto replied teasingly. The master remained silent after that, a depressive rain cloud appearing over his head. Naruto began to yell at the master. "Nani? Oi oi, don't get me wet with that cloud over your head! Hey! Stop it!" Eventually, Naruto was dropped off at the bar counter stool, soaking wet in his boxers with no other clothing.

"I hate you…" Naruto muttered, glaring lightly at the master that had jumped behind the bar counter to get some clothes. The blonde leaned against the counter and dropped his head on the counter.

"_I noticed that the air all around me has the unknown energy that is the same as in my sewer. Does this mean that the people use the magic from the air or do they have magic reserves as well? I'll find out eventually. But my reserves are filling pretty quickly, probably a secondary trait from having Kurama in my stomach for so long. My body isn't as stressed as it was before using my __**Pure Chakra Manipulation**__, most likely a result of releasing the pent up stress." _

Naruto sighed and pressed his cheek slightly harder against the cool surface, a welcome respite. He A moment later, a light weight landed against the back of Naruto's head. The newly instated Fairy Tail guild member lifted his head and grabbed the cloth on the back of his head. He stared at it with his cerulean eyes and was somewhat pleased to note that they were red and black, taking on the darker colors. Makarov jumped back onto the counter and pointed at the clothes Naruto was now holding in his hands.

"Those are new clothes that were never used. Wear them and buy some clothes from one of the stores in town." Naruto raised his head and glanced at the master before looking back down at the clothing again, noticing the dust and wrinkles on the clothing.

"Do you mean new when you say it has been untouched for like ten years?" Makarov ignored the question and continued speaking.

"You should probably go to town with Cana or one of the younger guild members. Cana would probably be the best though." Naruto faced the guild master and kept a steady gaze on the master as their conversation began.

"I don't know who Cana is. Can you describe her?"

"She was wearing a sundress."

"Cool. You narrowed it down to two of the girls. Blue or brown hair?" Makarov raised his eyebrows. Inwardly, he was shocked, a clear difference from his outward expression.

"_He has a surprisingly good eye. To be able to remember that kind of information from watching a bar fight just once is not genius, however. It means he's used to gathering information and important details around him quickly. What has he gone through to be able to do that so effectively?" _Instead of voicing out his thoughts, Makarov continued, deciding to ask the blonde when the two were closer, most likely at a much later date.

"Brown hair. She uses cards for her magic." Naruto nodded his head before smirking.

"The one that threw cards to hit the lights above people's heads right?" Makarov nodded slowly, sad to note that there would be even more expenses to repair the building. Naruto got off of his stool, feeling much better with only five minutes of rest. It seems that high speed regeneration was another thing that he had inherited from Kurama.

As Naruto walked around the guild hall looking for the girl that Makarov had recommended, the guild master took the time to think to himself since he was finally alone.

"_His power is extremely high, and he seems intelligent. That already is quite a fearsome combination, unlike Natsu who is mainly power and all brawn. I don't know how bad his control or how fast he is, but his muscles and body type indicate he is capable of going into a battle of attrition with no qualms and is heavily based on speed. So, speed, power, and intelligence. Finally, he is aware of his surroundings. Add that all together, and we have one very scary mage. Curretnly, I would put him at high B-class, possibly low A-class, but I don't have enough information to make any realistic conclusions. It seems that we may have another Erza or Mira in the guild."_

Makarov smiled before a feeling of dread went through his body, remembering the demonstration Naruto had shown him only minutes before.

"_But he's as destructive as Natsu! Oh this will be so bad. What will I have to tell the council…the council…oh no."_

Unaware of Makarov's current inner musings and feelings of dread, Naruto was cheerfully looking for any young girl his age that was currently on the floor knocked out. Eventually, he found the person that he assumed was "Cana." The girl had her hair up in a ponytail, showing off her forehead proudly. He was quick to admit to himself that she was prettier than Sakura and had much more natural beauty than Ino had in her early years.

"_She'll probably be even hotter than Mei-chan sometime in the future."_

Shaking his head to get rid of his random thoughts from his past, Naruto leaned down next to the girl and shook her to wake her up. When that elicited no response, he shook again, only with slightly more violence. Again, it had no effect. Naruto stared at the girl before moving from her side so that he was now straddling the girl. Then, he leaned down until he was inches from her face. Makarov, who saw only the last action, was suddenly interested with a perverse expression on his face.

"Go, Naruto-chan. I know you can do it," he cheered silently, rooting on the blonde. Naruto sneezed to the side, shaking the girl again, but she still didn't wake up from her knocked out state. Again, Naruto leaned close to her, his hands on her cheeks. Suddenly, he pinched both of her cheeks and spread them out to epic proportions.

"Wake up, Cana!" He yelled. That got the girl to wake up. She immediately began to bring herself up, only to meet with Naruto's forehead, her speed increased since Naruto was keeping her lower body still, making it easier for her to make the "sit-up" movement.

"Itai~…" Cana rubbed her forehead with one of her hands, the other one the ground to support her. Naruto got off of her and smirked at her when she glared up at the blonde. "And who are you?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a new member of Fairy Tail!" Cana's hostile expression immediately changed to one of blatant curiosity with an undercurrent of clear happiness. Naruto leaned down to give the girl a hand, which she took without a moment's hesitation to pull herself up. When she had patted herself down and looked up to stare at the blonde, Naruto gave her a wide, foxy smile.

"Nice to meet you! Cana said that you know the town's layout and the stores for clothing?" Cana nodded her head eagerly, always willing to make another friend to add into her already growing list. "OK, then can you take me around the town and show me some shops, please? Master put some money in the pockets of these pants so that I can buy some new clothes."

Cana nodded again happily before taking the lead, walking out of the guild. Naruto chuckled before following, passing by the two boys that once again getting manhandled by the red-head. They both stared at him with a pleading expression. Naruto just smiled at both of them and gave them a wave before turning around to follow Cana who was already getting ahead.

"Who was he?" Natsu asked. Gray shook his head in confusion.

"No talking! You two fought again!" Erza said strictly as she pointed her sword at the two. The two boys lifted their hands over their heads in the universal sign of surrender.

"_But you fight with Mira all the time!" _Both of them thought in unison.

Naruto was currently walking around the town with Cana in clear happiness, his smile growing wider and wider as he continued to walk around the town. People waved to him to which he happily waved back. Girls and some women squealed at how happy and childishness the blonde looked, turning around and smiling at every noticeable thing about the town. Cana took a small pleasure from watching the blonde's facial expressions.

"You've never been to the town of Magnolia?" Naruto took a moment to glance at her and shake his head before continuing to admire all the shops and buildings. Cana laughed before moving next to him and patting the blonde's shoulder.

"Well then…welcome to Magnolia!" She said happily. Naruto turned to her again and gave her a wide smile, which she returned.

Eventually, they reached a shop that Cana had recommended. Naruto stared at the shop before taking a few steps backwards to backtrack. Cana, however, was taking none of that and grabbed onto the blonde's wrist to prevent him from running. Naruto stared at her frightfully before looking up at the title of shop.

"Ca-Cana! This doesn't look like a store for boys!" Cana smiled before tugging on his wrist to move him closer to the entrance of the clothing store.

"I know that Heart Kreuz is mainly a women's store, but there are some pretty decent clothes for men, too. So don't worry and let's go!" Cana said happily, excited at the prospect of possibly buying some clothes. Erza had bought some pretty nice clothes which made Cana interested in the brand. Naruto had shown her the amount of Jewels that Master had given to him, and it was clearly enough to pay for at least five sets of normal clothes, which would be enough for two sets from Heart Kreuz. Makarov was probably expecting a decent amount of change back after Naruto had gone shopping.

"_Sorry, Master. My fortune telling ability says that you won't have any change back today!" _Cana thought cheekily to herself as he opened the doors to the store.

As soon as the door opened, Naruto cringed and gulped. Every customer in the shop, at least twenty women and young girls in their teens, turned to the entrance and zoomed in on the blonde who was still being held on the wrist. Naruto stared fearfully back at the crowd of women that zoned in on him before screaming at the top of his lungs.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: One hour)

"I don't care what you say, Cana. I'm never going back to the store ever again." Cana just laughed with happiness, holding a bag which held two sets of clothing; one for Naruto and one for her. Naruto had changed into new clothes, now wearing black pants that went down to his shins. On his upper body, he was wearing a dark orange shirt with a spiral in the front. Over his shirt was a white jacket with a cross that leaned further more on the right side on his chest. All in all, Naruto looked much neater and better than before entering the store except for the sour expression on his face that clearly said 'I'm-not-amused'.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-_chan_!" Cana said, drawling out on the suffix, copying the women inside the store. Naruto cringed before turning his head to glare lightly at the brunette.

"That's not funny. You owe me, Cana." Cana just chuckled happily with a innocent look on her face. Naruto lost his sour expression and smiled brightly as well when he saw how her expression showed her complete happiness and glee with an innocence that anyone would want to protect. Obviously, Naruto would be included in this list. He would do anything to help someone that was innocent to stay that way, especially after what he had to go through in just six years of working as a professional ninja.

"Fine, fine. What do you want?" Naruto turned his head away from the girl and stared straight forwards. The streets of the town were now mainly crowded since it was approaching rush hour. The sun was high, but it wasn't hot since it was approaching winter, a light wind passing through the town.

"Tell me about your magic." Cana instantly brightened up before explaining about her cards.

"I use cards as my main magic. I'm able to place runes onto my cards so that they can have multiple results; for example, I can make a combination of cards to make a tornado. Or I can just place magic into my custom deck of cards to make them into weapons that become kind of like shurikens." Naruto nodded his head, seeing the usefulness of her magic.

"How about you, Naruto?" The blonde turned to her slightly surprised. He was expecting her to ask, but not that forwardly. They had just met and she was already treating him kindly, as if she wanted to become closer to him so that they could be friends as soon as possible. Then, Naruto smiled and veered off the cobblestone path, walking towards a forest at the edge of a town that Cana had pointed out beforehand. The mages trained in any part of the forest, but there were set areas.

"_Kind of like the training grounds back at home."_ Naruto thought to himself with a bit of nostalgia.

"Where are you going?" Cana asked from behind Naruto, but she already knew he was going to the forest. Naruto turned his head around to face her and smiled over his shoulder.

"You said you wanted to see my magic, right? Let me show you a little trick that might seem similar to yours." Cana perked up at that and increased her pace, now walking next to the blonde. Eventually, the two reached a clearing in the forest where Naruto stopped at. Cana stopped next to him, waiting eagerly for the demonstration that the blonde would show.

"_What magic does he have that's similar to him?"_

As Cana watched the blonde, Naruto seemed to make a strange motion as a cloud of smoke suddenly covered his hand. When the smoke had cleared, there was a strange rectangular paper held between his fingers. Cana looked at it and widened her eyes.

"That's like the runes on my cards!" She exclaimed. Naruto smirked before shaking his head lightly.

"I told you that it was similar, Cana. Now let me show you something that you can add to your repertoire of abilities." Then, the blonde turned around to make his back face the brunette before narrowing his eyes in concentration.

"_I pulled out one of my more basic tags, so this should be able to work even with my shoddy chakra control right now. Okay…let's show Cana some real tricks."_

Naruto pumped a small amount of chakra to start the timer on the tag, but it didn't light. Continuously pumping minute amounts of chakra into the tag, it began to straighten until it became hard and sturdy, almost like a card. Then, Naruto suddenly threw it with unnatural accuracy, the card slicing through the air and grooving itself deeply into the trunk of a tree vertically. Cana stared at the card for a moment, and then exhaled in disappointment. Naruto turned around his body to face her and smiled at her disappointed face.

"I wouldn't stop watching if I were you." Naruto raised his right hand to about shoulder level and snapped his finger, flaring his chakra lightly at the same time. Suddenly, the card exploded, destroying the tree and sending the tree flying high into the air before crashing back down to the earth. Cana stared, gaping at the event that had just occurred before her. Then, she shifted her position slightly so that she was staring slack-jawed at the blonde who was just staring at her with a sheepish grin.

"I'm definitely adding that to my skillset." Naruto chuckled as he scratched the back of his head and began to walk away from the forest. Cana immediately joined Naruto, contentedly walking next to the blonde.

"Hey, want to do a mission with me?" Cana asked. She was surprised to find a person that used similar magic to her and wanted to see what else the blonde could do. Not only that, but the blonde was extremely open and was so happy and was so welcome to questions that she found herself quickly warming up to the blonde.

"_Are missions the same here as they are in the Elemental Nations?"_ Naruto thought to himself. However, he decided to just go ahead without thinking about it for just this once. _"If it's a mission, then it shouldn't be too bad since Jiji-san probably won't give us something too difficult, especially since we're still young. However, he might make us make up our deficit in skill by increasing our numbers…although I don't really need the backup."_

Naruto threw away the thought of taking a mission solo and decided to agree with Cana. After all, she seemed to be a nice girl and was kind to him so far, trying to act as hospitable and kind as possible to a boy that had crashed into their guild building.

"Sure. Let's go back to the guild."

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Fairy Tail Guild Hall)

"Gray, you're not wearing clothes again," Cana said as soon as she walked through the doors. Said boy immediately looked down at himself before cursing and looking for his clothes on the floor.

"_Again?"_ Naruto thought to himself as he chuckled at the antics of the guild members. Suddenly, the girl with red-hair that was previously manhandling "Gray" and the pink-haired teen around Naruto's age was in front of Naruto with her hand extended. Naruto stared at the hand before looking up at the girl. She had an expectant look on her face. Her hair was tied in a long ponytail that ran down her back. Instead of clothing, she was wearing armor on her upper body and a skirt on her lower body.

"I heard that you're a new member. My name is Erza Scarlet," Erza said to Naruto. The blonde moved forwards and shook her hand and smiled at her.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you, Erza!" The blonde said. If this were the Elemental Nations, no one would have introduced themselves like this. If it was before the battle against Pain, people would be discriminating against him; if it was after, they would flattering him to the point it was almost worship, something that Naruto did not appreciate. He wanted the respect, not hero worship.

"Good. Well then, I expect you to follow the rules and not create too much trouble." Naruto nodded his head mechanically in response. As soon as Erza left him and Cana alone, the two of them began to laugh to themselves. Fairy Tail members not making trouble? Who heard of that before?

After Erza had gone off to somewhere else, another girl walked up to Naruto with another girl and the tall man that was able to transform him arm. Closer up, he realized it was the girl who won the recent bar fight and that the guy was much younger than he expected; he was just ridiculously tall.

"Don't talk to that bitch. By the way, my name is Mira Strauss." The girl in the front said. Naruto quickly deduced that she was the leader of their trio. The smaller girl next to her, Naruto assumed her younger sister, said something to Mira but the elder sister just waved it off and ignored it.

"Um…who's the…girl you don't like?" Naruto asked, used a euphemism. Mira turned back, facing Cana first before turning to Naruto.

"Hey, Cana. I'll be seeing you in the S-Class exams next year, won't I?" Then, Mira faced Naruto with a glance that told Naruto she was one of those condescending girls with an ego, a trait that Naruto would beat out of her if no one else did. "Erza Scarlet. She's a complete bitch. Don't talk to her," she said in a commanding tone. Naruto noticed the sound of a sword swinging and immediately ducked.

Suddenly, Erza was in front of Mira with her sword drawn, which Mira stopped by grabbing onto the swordswoman's wrist.

"Did you call me a bitch, you skank?" Erza said. Mira glared at the red-haired swordswoman before spitting at her. Naruto sighed. He didn't want to see another bar fight on his fight day after joining the guild.

"The two of you have so much animosity towards each other." The two turned to him as one and glared at him.

"Stay out of this!" They said at the same time. Instead of responding, Naruto cleaned out his left ear with his pinky and stared at the two girls blankly. Then, he said –

"I'm sorry…did you say something to me? I hope I didn't miss anything important now. Well, I'm off to meet some more of the welcoming and kind. See you two," Naruto said as he brushed past the two. Cana was staring in shock, watching Naruto walk away. Natsu and Gray who were watching together without fighting for once, began to fear for the new guild member's life.

"_He's going to die!"_ They thought in unison.

The two rivals stared at each other behind nodding their heads and jumping after the blonde. Right before they reached him, however, the sound of a snap was heard and the two girls both dropped to the floor in a heavy heap, dropping uselessly to the ground. Both of them tried get up, but they couldn't for some reason; something was pressing down on them and it was heavy as hell!

Cana, who was watching from a short distance from behind, was probably the only one who understood what had just happened since she had an inkling of an idea of what Naruto could do with his magic.

"_What kind of rune magic was that? Was it his __**Rune Magic**__ again? But I only saw him drop two papers…"_ The brunette thought to herself. However, to anyone else, it just seemed as if the blonde had snapped his fingers and the two had dropped as the result of his snap. Absurd as it sounds, magic was magic; there were dragonslayers, weren't there?

Naruto turned around and walked back to the girls, glaring at the two. Then, he bent down on his knees so that the height different wasn't so much that the girls were easily able to glare up at him. Suddenly, Naruto smiled, completely breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Good job, you two! Using teamwork to get at a common enemy and striking when he didn't seem prepared. Good job! Pass!" Naruto said cheerfully, giving the two a thumbs-up. The two just stared at him for a moment, completely bewildered. Why was he not annoyed that they tried to attack him when he was turned around?

"Wait. You're not mad they tried to attack you when you weren't prepared?" Naruto looked up and faced Cana as he shook his head.

"No, why should I be? This is Fairy Tail, and from I see, you guys fight all the time. If I say that you can't strike my back, wouldn't that make me a hypocrite? Use whatever advantage you can get, that's what I would do. Besides, I'm not as strong as you two-" someone coughed from the bar counter. "-Nor am I as skilled as you-" another cough from the same person. Naruto's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he finished his last statement. "But if you let anyone have a plan or set up something, you're screwed."

"What a man!" The third member of the white haired family said. Naruto shuddered slightly before turning around and walking away, but he didn't let up on his **Gravity Seal**. The two girls continued to struggled to get back on their feet but failed. Cana stared at the two before hesitatingly passing them and joining up with Naruto who was now staring at the mission board.

"Hey, fight me!" Someone said to Naruto's right. Naruto turned from the board to the loud voice and saw the pink-haired mage. He turned back to the board and said in a apathetic voice, "Later. After I finish a mission with Cana."

Natsu, who saw what Naruto had done, although still confused by how he did it, decided that was as good as a promise. However, he wanted to get to know the new guy better so –

"Hey, let me join in on the mission." Natsu said. Naruto stayed silent for a moment before responding with a smile at the dragonslayer.

"Sure, the more the merrier. Why not?"

"Sweet!" The dragonslayer said with a smile.

"May I join as well?" Another person asked. Naruto turned to his right again and saw the boy that constantly stripped. He had already lost his shirt and pants. Naruto pointed at him and said –

"Your clothes," which resulted in the boy looking down at himself and cursing again. However, he didn't leave immediately, staring at the blonde waiting for a response. "Yes, you can join, too."

"Hey, who said you can join, Gray?" Natsu said, irritated that Gray would be on the same mission as he would be.

"He did! Didn't you just hear him?" Gray responded in an equally annoyed tone before walking away to find his lost clothing. Cana, who was currently to Naruto's left, stared at the paper Naruto had just took from the board. Giving it a once over, she nodded before taking it from his hands and then going over to the bar counter.

"Master, we'd like to take this mission. The group comprises of Cana Alberona, Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, and Naruto Uzumaki." Makarov placed his cup of beer to the side and took the mission request before stamping it and handing it back to Cana.

"Be careful," he said to Naruto, Cana, and Natsu, since Gray was still somewhere in the guild looking for his clothes. Natsu and Naruto both smirked as they gave him a thumbs-up while Cana only gave a serious nod of the head before the trio turned around to exit the hall. When they were walking towards the entrance to start their mission, Gray had joined them, now fully clothed.

Only when they had exited the guild building did Naruto snap his finger again to release his **Gravity Seal** to get rid of the weight on top of Erza and Mira. For once, they decided to get over their hatred of each other to get the new blonde member back with a vengeance…but you don't get the drop on the king of pranking. You can try…but he'll just bring hell back with him.

**End Chapter.**

**A/N: Wow…this was fun? I hope this one was OK. Finally, an action scene I can type next chapter. I can't wait!**

**Please write long and nice reviews. I'll try to reply to each of them now. Thank you so much for no flames! Criticisms were appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 3: Why So Serious?

**Chapter 3: Why So Serious?**

**A/N: Thank you for all of your support thus far! Also, thank you for all of you that found something I could do better or improve; I tried to incorporate it in this chapter. It seems that I need to think about this a lot more before I type. I reread my story and found out why…it was mainly because of last chapter. It's a process though, and I'm willing to take the hits to improve. That's what all authors did to improve. But…I think this chapter will be better. Hopefully. Maybe. A tiny bit. Maybe negatively better, which means worse. I don't know, I tried. And I cried too. **

**This is the fourth day out of five in my challenge. After this…I don't think I'll ever do this kind of thing again until I'm a much, MUCH better writer. I had to go back and forth on this chapter to fix so many errors...I really need to reread some Fairy Tail.**

**How does 'fairy tail dragon slayer' update so fast?! I don't get it!**

**Disclaimer: I own Naruto or Fairy Tail...not. I wish.**

**And let's drop the beat now. **

**Chapter 3 START**

_I know the difference between an A-class and an S-class mage. It is eighteen letters!_

_-Natsu Dragneel_

"What's wrong with him?" Naruto asked, pointing at Natsu. The dragonslayer was currently laying down on the train seat, taking up all the space on one side, forcing the other three to take the opposite end of the seats.

"Don't worry. It'll fade eventually. It's just a side effect of his magic," Gray said, replying to Naruto's question. The blonde raised his eyebrows as he continued to stare at Natsu, the pink-haired mage moaning in pain and complaining about how all transportation was uncomfortable.

"That's…interesting. What is his magic in the first place?" Naruto asked curiously.

"**Fire Dragonslayer Magic**," Gray said immediately, but nothing more than that. Naruto turned his head to face the black haired mage that was currently sitting to his left.

"Okay, then. Well, since Natsu is out of it, how about we three introduce ourselves to each other?" Naruto said. Before Gray or Cana could ask how to introduce themselves, which Naruto knew they would ask off of experience, he continued. "For example, we can talk about our likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals, and then our magic."

"I'll go first," Gray said, raising his hand slightly over his shoulder. Without waiting for confirmation, since he knew this was mainly a formality to get to know Naruto better, he began. "My name is Gray Fullbuster. I like the cold and my magic. I dislike…well not dislike…Okay, yea, I dislike Natsu. My hobby is to practice my **Ice Make **magic and my goal is to become the best **Ice Make **mage in all of Fiore so that I can do something. Also, I want to make that stubborn Natsu admit that I am better than he is." Naruto nodded his head and gave Gray a smile, although he was laughing inwardly at Gray's last goal.

"Nice to meet you, Gray. I guess I'll go next." Naruto took a deep breath before starting. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! My likes are ramen, training, and my precious people. I dislike the time it takes to cook ramen and…ghosts…hehe. My hobbies are to garden and to meditate occasionally. My goals? Meh. As for my magic: **Clone Magic**, **Pure Magic Manipulation**, **"Runes"**, and **Wind**." Naruto said, finishing his introduction.

"_I told the master __**Seals**__, but he probably assumed I meant __**Runes**__. If I'm correct here, the two should about the same or one should be derived from the other. We'll see."_

"How do you know so many? I thought you were mainly a **Runes** person," Cana said with some surprise evident in her voice. Gray was also curious as to why the blonde knew so many different magical abilities. Unlike most mages, the blonde did not seem to focus on one magic.

"_But his short demonstration showed that he was a master of __**Runes**__," _both Cana and Gray thought at the same time, thinking of two different events. Cana was thinking about the explosive tag while Gray was recalling the moment Naruto dropped two **Gravity Seals** onto the ground and activated them when Mira and Erza had jumped after him.

Naruto waved his hand, leaning back against the cushion of the chair.

"I just feel safer knowing more. Besides, it helps a lot that my **Clone **magic has a special benefit attached to it." The other two waited for a moment for Naruto to explain, but when he didn't, they left him be. Then, Cana coughed into her fist and began her introduction.

"My full name is Cana Alberona. My likes are my guild and my friends. I dislike…I'm going to copy you Naruto and say 'meh'." Naruto stuck his tongue out at the girl. "My hobby is fortune telling with my cards, and my magic, as you already know, is **Card Magic**." Naruto opened his eyes and turned over to Cana, curiosity clearly shown in his eyes. However, he remained silent and turned his head straight forwards, mainly looking at the suffering figure of Natsu.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all…especially you, Natsu," The blonde said. The pink-haired dragonslayer just moaned in response, writhing in his seat.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Bathroom)

Naruto splashed his face with water and looked up, staring at his reflection in the mirror. However, instead of the twelve-year-old figure of himself staring back at the blonde, his eighteen year old self, the face caked with dirt and bruises, stared back at him.

"_It's strange how I'm not surprised I'm in another dimension. It's like…I'm just going with it. But something's bugging me. No matter how I act right now, it feels weird. I try to act like a thirteen or twelve year old but…I guess I'm still a veteran of war. I wonder how long it'll be until I reach the point before I left the Elemental Nation. Chakra control was shot. Let's see…my optical nerves should be about the same as before I left, but the speed at which my body responses might be slower since I didn't train much in my younger years. I'm glad I left about two hundred clones back in the forest to train my chakra control. But I won't be able to use __**Sage Mode**__ since this body…well, it's just not ready for it yet. Neither is it prepared for a complete __**Bijuu Mode**__ either yet; at least another year until I can even use an incomplete __**Kyuubi Chakra Mode**__, not even close to __**Bijuu Mode**__."_

Suddenly, Naruto stumbled slightly when the train stopped without any warning, making the blonde grab onto the sink to prevent himself from falling over.

"What the hell?" Naruto said when the train had completely stopped. He unlocked the bathroom door and ran out, rushing from his spot from the bathroom back to his new teammates, passing passengers as he went down the aisle.

"What's going on?" He asked as soon as he reached his seats. Cana and Gray were picking up Natsu in a fireman hold and were about to run down the aisle to exit the train.

"Mages blew up the tracks! We can't move, so everyone is forced to go out," Cana said, although she was focusing more on Natsu who was groaning even more when he was picked up.

"They're demanding that the passengers give them all their money and whatever valuables they have," Gray finished for Cana. Naruto remained silent, a clear difference from what he was thinking.

"_Of course this happens on my first mission. Just my luck,"_ Naruto thought to himself. However, what Gray said next made him question his original assessment about his luck.

"This happens every time Natsu goes on a mission; somehow, he's a trouble magnet."

"Doesn't matter. Hurry up and let's get out of the train. We have some pesky mages to deal with." Cana said quickly.

When the group of four was outside, they were exposed to the sight of the explosion. Naruto and his group zoned in on the mages.

"Give all of your valuables and money to us and we'll leave you off…without too much pain." Cana and Gray immediately scrunched their eyebrows. Gray began to grit his teeth in anger at the twelve obviously dark mages standing before them. He dropped Natsu to the ground ceremonially on his bottom and stood straight up, stretching out his neck as he clicked his tongue, preparing to use his **Ice Make** magic to fight.

Naruto stared at the twelve dark mages and felt that out of the twelve, only one of them were strong enough to be of consequence; he was probably somewhere around A-class from what Naruto could feel. The rest were cannon fodder…however, that still meant they had the strength in numbers. Not only that, but add the innocent bystanders to the equation, then the situation gets ugly.

"_Well, if they want to play a numbers game, I can win that any day. But what can I do that would make this simple and clean? Ah…misdirection."_

Naruto smirked. He never thought he would do this, but it seemed that the time called for it. Desperate times called for desperate measures, right? He walked forwards with no reserves or any hesitation to his walk. Gray and Cana whispered for him to stop and read the situation, but Naruto continued to move closer to the dark mages and the front of the crowd of passengers, giving his two conscious teammates a smile before changing his expression to one of seriousness.

"What are you doing? Give us everything ya' got!" One of the mages yelled at the frightened crowd. The mages were getting irritated that none of the passengers were moving forwards or even making any action to reach for their valuables. However, they weren't afraid to use force or cause just a little bit of death. No, to get what they wanted, they weren't afraid to kill.

Suddenly, the crowd started to move and split apart. The mages assumed it was the leader and waited. However, when the "leader" reached the front, it was revealed to be a blonde child that stood at less than five feet tall. The blonde had a look of determination on his face as he crossed his arms of his chest and stared at each of the opposing mages without backing down for a moment, making the mages question who the child was.

"Who are you, 'ya little brat?" Naruto growled at the remark on his height before he smirked; that was the question he was waiting for. He brought his hands into a cross position and used one of his signature techniques.

"_**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**__!"_ He said mentally. A cloud of smoke surrounded the blonde. When the wind cleared the smoke, twelve identical blondes were revealed surrounded the original caster. The dark mages took a step back in surprise except for the experienced one that was confident in his skills. After all, the blonde was only a child. Numbers did nothing if there was no skill to back it up.

However, instead of attacking, the twelve clones of the blondes sat on the ground and each brought out a traditional instrument out of nowhere. Then, they began to play some strange kabuki beat as the original began to hop on one foot, and then switched to his other foot.

"I am the most unpredictable mage. My very name brings fear into the depths of the heart of my foes and enemies. I am revered everywhere; the fact that all opponents bow before me is the reason for my fame." Suddenly, all of the dark mages suddenly fell to the ground in a useless heap, an extremely heavy weight pressing down on each of their backs. Naruto, however, ignored their now vulnerable states and continued his ridiculous introduction. While they were focusing on the blonde and smoke beforehand, Naruto had created _thirteen _clones, not twelve.

"_People assume that my clones have to be close to me…such a stupid assumption."_ He thought to himself as he hopped again to his left foot.

"I am the great mage, Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto finished with a flourish, whipping his head in a circle and throwing his right hand in front of him and his left arm behind his back. Naruto completely copied the pose of Ero-sennin when he first met the perverted sage. All of the backup clones finished their instrumental introduction and bowed at the end.

Cana, Gray, and even the barely conscious Natsu sweatdropped at Naruto's introduction. The amount of stupidity Naruto was acting with in this situation, however, made them wonder how he could remain so calm and take a situation like this as a joke.

The rest of the dark mages on the floor were sweating in fear. They were completely vulnerable and had no idea why they were having so much difficulty to even move their body an inch upwards.

Suddenly, Naruto turned around and pointed at one of the clones as he began to berate it.

"You missed the G note at the thirteenth measure! What are you doing?" The clone bowed humbly as an apology.

"Sorry, Boss. It won't happen again!" The original Naruto kept his serious face as he continued to castigate the clone.

"It better not happen again! The rest of you, though, good job! Dismissed!" As one, all of the clones bowed before disappearing out of existence in a cloud of smoke.

"H-how?" Naruto turned around and smiled condescendingly at the downed mages. Cana, Gray, and a fully-recovered Natsu were now listening attentively, also wanting to know how Naruto had taken care of the dark mages so easily. Instead of responding, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out…a paintbrush?

"Ah, the paintbrush is so over powered. Do you know what this baby can do?" Naruto stared lovingly at the paintbrush. Every single person present: downed mages, passengers, and Naruto's teammates alike all sweatdropped at the antics of the strange blonde. Suddenly, Naruto began to swing his paintbrush in the air in calculated movements. All the mages on the dirty ground watched in apprehension, but their concentration was broken when all twelve of them suddenly fell asleep.

Naruto stared at each of the unconscious dark mages, each of them unmoving. Then he turned around to the flabbergasted viewers and tilted his head.

"I can't torture or interrogate them can I?" They all shook their heads as another sweatdrop went down the back of their heads. "Well, there goes that choice."

A few minutes later, a group of Rune Knights came in and handcuffed the dark mages before taking them away.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Four Hours)

Natsu kicked the door down with his foot and cheerfully walked into the guild hall.

"WE'RE BACK!" A few of the mages welcomed Fairy Tail's dragonslayer back, giving him claps on the back or some form of welcome. Naruto, Cana, and Gray quickly followed. The expression on Naruto's face was complete apathy for anything. Although the mission wasn't bad, he was expecting a little bit more from a B-ranked mission. Simply finding a person, getting their item and dropping it off at another location was not considered a B-ranked mission.

Cana and Gray, on the other hand, were happily chatting away with each other, talking about their recent success on their mission. Further on in the mission, the four-man group had run into a few bandits and had taken care of them with ease. While Naruto was doing his distracting and ridiculous introduction again, Natsu had charged in and attacked the distracted opponents, knocking out a number of the opponents before Gray and Cana joined in. After they had defeated all of them, Naruto continued to do his introduction until he finished, uncaring of the fact that all of the opponents were down and that no one was listening to him anymore. It was a perfect form of distraction and misdirection.

Suddenly, Naruto ducked and threw two papers into the air above his head and snapped his fingers immediately. Then, taking one step to the left, the sound of a heavy landing was heard perfectly clearly in his ears where he had stood just a moment before. The blonde looked down at the floor to his right and found Mira on the floor, struggling to stand up again.

"Hi there Mira! How's the weather down there?" Naruto asked cheekily, his eyes closed as he gave the white-haired girl an eye-smile. She growled back at Naruto on the floor in response. Naruto looked up and turned around in a full circle, taking in his surroundings, looking for a certain red-haired swordswoman in armor. However, in a moment, Mira had jumped up and punched Naruto in the face, sending the blonde flying. Mira smirked as she felt her fist impact the smirking blonde's face, only to drop her smile when she saw his body disappear in a cloud of smoke.

"Nu-uh-uh. I don't think that's very nice," a taunting voice said from behind her. Mira whirled around and was exposed to the sight of Erza on the floor struggling under one of the blonde's damned **Runes** again. Naruto took a step forwards closer to the white-haired girl before dropping into a random stance in the middle of the guild hall, the complete center of attention. Everyone's eyes were on the two. This was something that never happened before: someone actually forcing the two rivals to team up and still beat them while teasing them.

Mira snarled at the blonde as she transformed slightly. Naruto shook his head as she charged straight forwards at him at a high speed. Mira felt the impact of her fist dig into the blonde's face again, but that feeling quickly changed to emptiness. Looking at what her fist impacted, it was covered by a cloud and…a piece of paper floating in the air that had just attached to her fist.

Mira dropped to the ground as she was brought down to earth unceremoniously by the **Gravity Seal**. She looked up to find the blonde and found him carrying an unmoving Erza on his shoulder over to her. Erza was glaring at Naruto but couldn't move any portion of her body other than her eyes. When the blonde came to Mira, he picked her up and placed her over his shoulder as well and walked over to a table and placed the two on the chairs of the table.

"Hmm…your teamwork was better. It was a good plan to sacrifice one of you to prevent one from getting affected by the **Gravity "Rune"** so that the other could remove it later on like you did but…if this was in the real world, the person that sacrificed herself would either be unconscious or dead. But otherwise, better!" Naruto said cheerfully. The two girls continued to glare hatefully at the blonde. The majority of the guild just stared slack-jawed. The blonde had single-handedly taken care of two of Fairy Tail's upper class of mages, both of them standing at low A-class. And, it was done with only two abilities. Makarov, who saw this, was deeply interested in how much the blonde knew about **Runes**. He was able to make the conclusion that the blonde was extremely aware as well as highly intelligent…or was just very good at strategic planning on the spot.

However, the mood suddenly tensed when Naruto dropped his smile and said his next words. "But for failing, you two have to be punished so…" the whole guild watched as Naruto dug into his pocket and pulled out a paintbrush. Then, he dipped it with ink from nowhere and began to draw on the faces of the two girls, drawing three whiskers on each cheek. "There! You two look so much better!" Naruto said in a cheerful tone and then walked away without removing his **Gravity "Rune"**. The surprise from the guild increased, although now they were barely holding in their laughter. One person cracked, and then the rest of the guild joined in, guffawing and laughing without control. If the two girls were mad at the blonde before, now they were leaking Killing Intent in his direction with so much force that if it were any other male, he would have been running for his life. However, Naruto wasn't normal and was used to such flimsy Killing Intent that he waved it off as he joined his mission teammates at the bar counter who were reporting to the master who seemed to be crying out of happiness.

"Did something good happen to you, master?" Makarov wiped his tears with his hand as he nodded his head.

"It's a miracle! For the first time…Natsu, Gray, and Cana have reported that they have done no damage during their mission!" Makarov opened his eyes and gripped Naruto's shoulders and began to shake the blonde. "I beg of you, please continue to take missions with them!"

"Okay okay, geez. Calm down, jiji-san," Naruto said, grabbed the old man's wrists and lifted them off his shoulders. No wonder Naruto could never act seriously; it was because no one else in the whole guild was ever serious...well except for Erza and maybe Mira.

"But I expect something back," Naruto said immediately.

"Free apartment room in a nice complex," the master said without hesitation. He would save huge sums of money and get a load of his back from the council at the same time. If Naruto could deal with the three of them during missions, it would definitely be worth the price of paying for the blonde's living costs.

"Deal," Naruto said immediately. He didn't need any fancy living conditions; he lived his whole life in an apartment where he was cheated and sometimes even thrown out.

"Fight me, Naruto! You said you would!" Natsu said, suddenly turning on the blonde with his fists aflame. Naruto turned to the dragonslayer and nodded his head. Natsu's challenge had gotten the interest of the guild, and now that the blonde had nodded his head, the guild members' interest had gone to a new high. They had only seen him use clones and runes; a true assessment of what the blonde could do was just something the members wanted to see, although they admitted to themselves it would be unlikely if the blonde could deal with both Erza and Mira at the same time with little difficulty.

"I did say I would. Where do you want to do it?"

"In the back of the guild is fine. Let's go! I'm all fired up!" Natsu said in excitement as he began to walk towards the back door of the guild.

"Wait! Are you Naruto?" The blonde stopped and turned around to see a girl in a sundress with blue hair staring up at him, two other boys standing next to her protectively. They gave Naruto a wary look before relaxing slightly.

"I am. Why?" The girl lifted up the seal that Naruto had used on Erza and Mira and pointed at it. Naruto took a moment to look past the girl and saw that Erza and Mira were walking around again freely, although they did send a few predatory glares at him every once in a while. Naruto gave both of them a smile and a wave before focusing back on the girl before him.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto. It's good to have another member in our guild. My name is Levy McGarden!" The blue-haired girl said cheerfully, a bright smile on her face. Naruto smiled back at her as he waited for her to get to the point of what she wanted with him. Again, she pointed at the seal that Naruto had used. "This is an **Ancient Rune**, right?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"_Okay, I know runes are similar to seals. Cool. But I've never heard of __**Ancient Runes**__…then again, I've only been here for at most a day."_ Naruto thought to himself. Levy shook her head before taking on a thoughtful look. Natsu, however, was getting impatient, his adrenaline rushing through his body for his fight.

"Come on, Levy! Can't you wait until after I beat him?" Naruto fought the urge to scoff. The amount that Natsu reminded Naruto of his younger self was ridiculous. Headstrong, jumps into the fray first and thinks later, ridiculously enthusiastic, loyal to a fault, and many other traits that just made him see himself in Natsu.

However, Levy did rebuked Natsu for him in a way with the next thing she said. She turned to Natsu and said, "I don't mean to seem mean or anything Natsu, but if I am correct, currently, you don't stand a chance. Remember that he beat Mira and Erza by himself, who are both able to beat you. Not only that but," Levy turned back to a Naruto and continued. "-I think if I recall correctly from a book I read, another name for the **Ancient Rune Magic **was…um…oh! It was **Fuunjutsu**!" Levy exclaimed in her sudden recollection. Naruto widened his eyes in slight surprise.

"_They know what real Seals are here? But I thought everything here was based on __**Magic**__. Wait…no. Seals aren't completely based on chakra. It can be fueled by any kind of energy as long as the person knows the kanji and letters for the seal."_

"What's the difference? They're the same thing, aren't they? One has letters, the other has letters, no difference!" Natsu said impatiently, clearly not getting the point. Levy shook her head and pointed at Naruto.

"Runes originated from the **Ancient Runes**, which are the seals Naruto uses. However, they are much more complicated and potent, despite how complicated our runes already look. And if I am correct again, you used a **Gravity Seal**, which is one of the most difficult seals to use, with almost perfect ease. That means you're a Seal Master, right?"

"_Shit! I knew I should've held back on that. Why the hell do I have to get caught by someone that actually reads history and knows about something that no one else knows?"_ Naruto thought, chastising himself for his carelessness. It had only been a day, and here, he was already getting caught with his use of seals.

"I thought something was strange when you said that you used seals instead of runes," the master said, pitching in his own thoughts. The old man turned to Natsu and pointed at the back door and said, "Go and fight Naruto. It'll be a good experience and you'll learn something."

Naruto stared at the old man in shock, and then he smirked, realizing the old man's intentions. Makarov knew exactly how to teach Natsu: a hands-on experience. Natsu was like Naruto when he was younger: they both learned by practical experience.

"Finally, let's do this!" Natsu exclaimed as he ran out the back door, his fists blazing once more. Naruto chuckled mentally as he followed the eager Natsu out the back door. Makarov hopped off of his seat on top of the bar counter and followed immediately behind Naruto. Slowly, the rest of the guild came out, interested in what would happen and to find out what exactly **Fuuinjutsu **was.

When all of the guild members were outside, including Erza and Mira, they saw Naruto and Natsu facing off about ten meters away from each other. Natsu had his hands and feet aflame as he grinned at the prospect of fighting that might be strong. Turning over to Naruto, however, changed the mood immediately. Instead of looking prepared for a fight, the blonde had one of his hands in his pocket and the other hand in the air, twirling a paintbrush.

Makarov coughed to gather the attention of the guild members and to silence them before he set the rules. "First person to get a knock out or land a clean hit will be the winner. Ready?" Natsu responded with an excited 'Osu!' while Naruto just hummed in response. "Begin!"

Natsu immediately charged forwards, propelling himself by lighting his feet on fire. However, right before he was in striking range to punch the blonde, Naruto raised his right hand with his index and middle finger pointed straight to the sky and said one word.

"**Seal**!" Suddenly, Natsu crashed into an invisible barrier and fell down to the ground. He immediately got back up and tried to attack Naruto again through the barrier but failed. Understanding that he couldn't go forwards, Natsu tried to make distance but crashed into something against his back.

"It's over," Naruto said. Natsu stopped struggling for a moment to glare at the blonde.

"Are you telling me to give up? And when did you use your seal? I never saw you move!" Naruto shook his head.

"I'm not telling you to give up; in fact, I think that the fact you don't want to give up is a good trait to have. However, you should understand the situation you are in right now. And if you want to know when I did it, remember what I said to you during the mission?" Natsu stared at Naruto, his eyes going blank for a moment as he went through his memories earlier in the day.

**XShuyaX**

_(Flashback: During the mission)_

"_Naruto, why didn't you just fight those dark mages? That would've been so much more fun and exciting!" Natsu asked as he shouted out his opinion, a small ball of fire erupting from his mouth. Currently, the group of four was in the train station waiting for the train to take them back to the town of the guild. _

"_Natsu, I already told you. If I don't need to fight or use any of my abilities, I won't because there is no need to. It's called efficiency. Runes are not very taxing on my reserves and they're almost limitless in what they can do. It helps that those dark mages underestimated me and also didn't know what kind of magic I can do," Naruto said. Natsu dropped his head and pouted slightly._

"_But that's so boring," he said. _

"_It saves lives," Naruto immediately replied. Natsu raised his head to look at the serious face of Naruto._

"_What do you mean?" Naruto dropped his crossed arms from his chest._

"_OK, what would you rather have, Natsu, a battlefield where you set the rules," Naruto said, raising his right hand, "or a battlefield where it's anyone's game?" the blonde finished, raising his other hand._

"_Of course I would choose my own battlefield! That's easy," the dragonslayer said without hesitation. Naruto nodded calmly. Although it seemed that Naruto was only talking to Natsu, Gray and Cana were also listening in a few feet away, talking together only a few moments before until they heard Naruto bring up the topic._

"_Correct. You would obviously choose the terrain where you set the traps, you know the terrain, and you know every single advantageous place. So, if someone comes into your battlefield and you don't need to fight, would you?" Natsu shook his head. "It's the same thing. I had no reason to fight those dark mages because they were in _my_ battlefield and under my rules as soon as they let their guard down against a seemingly "useless and weak" twelve-year-old mage."_

"_But isn't that kind of like cheating?" Natsu asked innocently. Once upon a time, Naruto might've asked that too, but he wasn't the same anymore. No…he would take any advantage he could get. After all, he may be a "mage" now, but he is truly a ninja at heart._

"_Then you cheated to save lives," Naruto said._

**XShuyaX**

(End Flashback)

Natsu's blank look turned to one of realization.

"You set it up before the battle began when we walked to our position and my back was turned to you!" Natsu yelled accusingly. Naruto nodded his head, his facial expression showing neither shame nor guilt in his actions. Natsu growled before breathing in heavily. The blonde felt an enormous amount of energy build up in the dragonslayer and jumped back before pulling out a paper and writing a full seal onto it within two seconds.

"**Fire Dragon's Roar**!" Natsu screamed as the huge magical energy erupted from his mouth and shot forwards as a wide beam at Naruto, immediately breaking through the barrier Naruto had erected. Instead of dodging, however, the blonde stayed still, watching the attack come closer and closer to him.

"What is he doing? He has to get out of the way!" Some of the guild members said in worry of the blonde. Erza and Mira, although they didn't like Naruto, were slightly worried for him. If he took the blunt of the damage from Natsu's all out attack, that was an immediate visit to the hospital with a stay of possibly a few months.

"He's fine," Levy said, completely contradicting how many of the other guild members felt. They all turned to her for an explanation, but instead of replying, she pointed at the location of where Naruto stood when he faced the oncoming attack. All the guild members turned to where her finger was pointing and dropped their jaws in shock.

Naruto had his hand raised and the paper he was holding was…sucking in the powerful attack.

"What the hell! Fight me, Naruto! Don't just use your seals!" Instead of responding, Naruto continued to suck in the attack until every last bit of it was sucked into the paper.

"_Hmm…If his attack was a little stronger, then that seal wouldn't have worked and would have imploded."_

Naruto raised his head to face Natsu only to find a flaming fist about to hit his face. Having no time to release a seal or perform any substitution techniques, Naruto raised his fist to meet Natsu's. When the two fists collided, both of the boys were immediately thrown back by the force. They both flipped backwards and skidded across the dirt before stopping.

"_Is he getting stronger? Hehe…then he's just like me…getting stronger when fighting against someone that is higher than him."_ Naruto thought with a smirk as he faced Natsu who was panting and heaving from using so much energy.

"There…I got you to move," Natsu said triumphantly. Naruto nodded his head and smiled as he closed his eyes.

"Natsu lost," Makarov suddenly said out of nowhere. This time, even Levy was confused. Laxus, who was watching from the second floor of the guild building, had been the only other person to see what the blonde had done, but that was because he had a different perspective.

A moment later, a clone erupted from under the ground right where Natsu was standing. It punched Natsu in the chin, sending the dragonslayer flying into the air before it kicked him on the stomach, sending Natsu crashing into the ground. Usually, Natsu would be able to get back up but something was pressing down on him.

"_Pressing down…he used a seal? But-"_

"When, right? It was when my clone hit you. Seals aren't limited to paper; they can be infused onto the skin," Naruto said as he walked up to Natsu. "Good fight, Natsu."

"Grr…fine. You won this time, but next time, I'll win!" Natsu shouted at Naruto. The blonde leaned down and removed the seal on Natsu's stomach and grabbed the Natsu's hand to pull him up. When they were face to face again, Naruto smirked at Natsu.

"You're going to have to get a lot better than that to faze me, Natsu," he said. Natsu grinned in response, prepared to do anything to beat Naruto someday.

"Winner is Naruto!"

**End Chapter.**

**Next Chapter: S-Class Trials?**

**A/N: I don't know…I'll see what you guys say first and cry later, right?**

**Please leave nice and long reviews. No flames, please. I'm completely okay with criticisms, though; I need them to improve, right?**

**A favor: will someone be my beta, please? I really need one apparently. Badly.**


	5. Chapter 4: S-Class Trials?

**Chapter 4: S-Class Trials?**

**A/N: Wow…so many reviews and stuffs; I'm still so surprised by how much reception I've received in just three days. It's ridiculous. You guys are the best.**

**Okay, so I was so happy when I finished this chapter because I was like "Yeah! I completed the challenge." And then someone at swimming told me that it was Thursday when it felt like a Friday. Yea…that was the moment I cried mentally. And I'm going to cry after I post this chapter. I'm just saying that this chapter is a formality for the next chapter. Barely finished this chapter in time**

**Information on the story: For the people who said that Fairy Tail and Naruto have different languages and other details about the story…all things will be explained in due time. I was wondering how I was going to chain these two things together and you guys just made me find the way. I see the light!**

**So, without further adieu…disclaimers. Haha.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Fairy Tail or Naruto…although I would love to own them. I wonder how much money the authors make?**

**Chapter 4 START**

(Time Skip: One Year)

English. A language that was created by Shikamaru and some other geniuses during the war to prevent certain people from foiling their plans. Naruto had been forced to learn it since he was an integral part of every situation and plan during the war in the Elemental Nations. Basically, any person that was of any significance in the war was forced to learn the new language, which basically made it esoteric. Only a handful of the shinobis actually learned it. However, in the land of Fiore, it was the main _written _language; the spoken language was still the same as in Naruto's world, although the blonde was questioned a few times by his guild mates about his old dialect.

It was early in the morning, only about seven; the sun was just rising. Naruto, in a rare case of laziness, was sitting at a table by himself with his face pressed against the table. He was the first person at the guild; the master didn't count since he was sleeping on the bar counter with a cup of beer on his lap.

After a year, Naruto had grown and now stood at a height of five feet and three inches, having grown five inches in only the past year or so. The spiky-haired blonde had changed his choice of clothing, so instead of wearing a jacket, he had custom ordered a coat that resembled his sage clothing: a long coat of any color with flames on the bottom of the hem. The color of the shirt didn't matter to the blonde as long as it had a circular flame in the chest area. Finally, the pants had to end near his shins, where Naruto would wrap tape around the bottom of his shin down to his ankles.

With almost no breaks, Naruto and his gang would take a mission of any rank, although throughout the course of the year, the group tended to take higher and higher missions until they were taking B-rank and higher consistently. Eventually, they created a team that became somewhat permanent, and they had earned a name for themselves throughout Fiore as Fairy Tail's non-destructive group that passed every single mission in almost record speed. Despite the fact that there was almost always some kind of problem during every mission, probably due to Natsu's aptitude for trouble, they were generally quickly dealt with, which further increased the team's standing among many mages and even people on the council. In fact, Makarov was teased and complimented on his first non-destructive team.

And every time that the team completed a mission, Natsu would immediately challenge Naruto to a fight. And of course, this would result in the blonde winning handily in every single spar, although Natsu was improving at alarming rates due to the blonde forcing the dragonslayer to actually use his brain and constantly be on his toes. Not only that, but Natsu decided to train with Naruto. The first day that Natsu had joined Naruto in his training clearing, he was shocked to find thousands of clones training, meditating, or doing some kind of concentration training. Of course, this made Natsu get excited and want to fight every one of the blondes, which Naruto responded to by placing a level 5 **Gravity Seal **on the loud teen, making the dragonslayer crash to the floor and create and indent on the ground. And with that, Naruto continued to train by himself until Natsu managed to get on his feet with the seal still intact, getting up by sheer willpower. Then, Naruto began Natsu's training by forcing the dragonslayer to perform ridiculously strenuous physical exercises, all which Natsu barely completed each day, which by itself was a significant achievement. After about a month after Natsu had trained with the blonde, Gray also joined in on the training, although he focused more on his magic, in which Naruto gave some ideas, such as Haku's volley of ice senbons and other possibilities, such as controlling ice in midair. After a few days when Gray joined, Cana joined the group, but she mainly just hung out and watched the boys work and cheered randomly whenever one of the boys would have a spar, which was common due to Gray and Natsu getting into fights constantly.

The effects of the training were obvious for both boys, but Natsu improved ridiculously. Eventually, during one of his spars with the blonde, because the dragonslayer's speed had increased so much without the **Gravity Seal**, he forced the blonde into a close combat battle which was much closer in skill. However, that was probably most likely due to the fact that Naruto didn't use chakra to back up his strikes.

After one year of constant chakra control training, physical training, and meditating, Naruto had reached Jonin chakra control, was able to use nearly half of Kurama's chakra now, and was able to enter a perfected **Sage Mode**. There was something he found interesting about **Sage Mode** in this world: going into **Sage Mode** was much easier.

Another thing Naruto did over the year was to create the seal to transfer the energy in the air called Eternano and convert it to chakra. However, for fun, he began to experiment with the energy and found that he could use magic only when he was extremely low on chakra reserves. Eventually, he found out why. Currently, his main chakra source was Kurama's purified chakra. However, if he used a majority of that, his blue chakra would kick in and take over the golden chakra while at the same time, a portion of his chakra would go through a conversion process to turn back to Kurama's chakra to speed up the process of regaining the golden chakra. However, if Naruto went so low that he had almost none of his or Kurama's chakra left, then magic would come into play. He found out this small fact when he summoned five thousand clones and dropped to the ground and the light energy entered him.

After nearly a year of this constant process of doing missions, training, relaxing, and sleeping, Naruto had become an integrated and an essential part of Fairy Tail. And…he was one of the largest possible candidates for the upcoming S-Class trials. He had just missed the S-Class trials last year since he joined Fairy Tail about a month after it had already happened.

Suddenly jumping away from the table, Naruto dodged a punch that destroyed the table from a certain pink-haired dragonslayer. Naruto landed a few yards away and sighed in slight irritation, disappointed he wouldn't be able to relax longer.

"I hope you know I'm not paying for that, Natsu," the blonde said in a tired tone. The dragonslayer dropped his flames from his hands and chuckled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Meh…can you please pay for half?" Naruto sighed again, but he nodded in resignation. Although the higher ranked missions paid better, it was split evenly among the four. Not only that, but the missions usually lasted longer. After that, the four would do whatever they wanted with money. Usually, a person would be fine with the amount of money Natsu would receive after doing missions consistently, but he had a ridiculous appetite which took out a chunk of his wallet.

"You shouldn't do that too often, Naruto, or he'll just become dependent on you," Cana said as she entered through the guild entrance with Gray. Naruto turned to the two and gave them a wave and a smile, which they both returned. Sometime during the last year, Cana had gotten rid of her ponytail and let her hair fall naturally. She had also changed her wardrobe, getting rid of her sundress to wearing short shorts and a tank top. Gray, however, hadn't changed at all other than the fact that he had grown taller, which applied to all three of the boys on the team.

"So what are we doing today?" Natsu asked, excitedly. Naruto chuckled mentally. Nothing made this kid lose his energetic nature, even something as boring as missions. Well, there were problems in every single mission, so it was exciting in a way to see what kind of problem would occur, but Cana temporarily remedied that with her fortune telling. Temporarily because every single time she did it, the event she foretold happened to her, so she stopped fortune-telling.

"We're not doing anything today. Today is the day that jiji-san announces who is going to participate in the S-Class Trials, remember?" Cana, Gray, and Natsu nodded as each of them gave a smile. They all felt that they were prepared for it, even though they were only thirteen, and if they passed, they would be the youngest S-class mages in the history of Fiore.

"He's announcing that around eight, which is in an hour. Should we get breakfast?" Cana asked. As one, the three boys' stomachs growled out in response. Cana laughed mirthfully. "Come on, you guys. I know a pretty good restaurant a few minutes away."

About twenty minutes later, the four were eating at a somewhat fancy restaurant. Each of them was able to pay for themselves since they had a decent amount of money, except for Natsu who Naruto was paying for. The four were sitting at a circular table with a soft, white tablecloth. Each was sitting on the red velvet cushion of the chairs, resting comfortably as they ate in the calming restaurant. On the center of the table was a candle, although the fire was gone since Natsu had eaten it.

Currently, the blonde was eating a steak, Gray was enjoying a dish of sushi, Natsu was chomping on chicken as if it was going out of style, and Cana was eating her cooked meat. Next to Cana's meal was a cup of wine which Naruto constantly prevented her from drinking, so it was still untouched.

"No," he said when she reached for it again, only for her hand to be smacked away from the wine glass. She pouted and glared at the blonde who was slicing another piece of his steak with knife.

"Why not? It's not like something bad is going to happen. Besides, I'm certain that I can hold my liquor," the brunette argued.

"I'm pretty sure that I can, too," Naruto said, thinking about his immunity to alcoholic affects. "However, I knew a friend that went berserk from a single drop of alcohol, so I'm not taking that chance," he said. Suddenly, Natsu grabbed onto the wine cup when Naruto was lightly arguing against Cana and drank all of it in one go.

"Hey! That's my wine!" Cana whined out sadly. Naruto shook his head and smiled slightly. Cana whipped her head to Naruto and glared at him.

"That's not funny; it was expensive. And how come you're not chastising him for drinking wine when you won't even let me touch the cup?" Naruto smirked and chuckled to himself.

"Because Natsu will be the same with wine or without it. It won't make a difference in how he acts and thinks because he doesn't plan anyways." Natsu burped before turning to glare at Naruto.

"Hey, I resent that. I can think just fine. I'm going to make S-Class today, yeah!" Natsu said with a slightly slurred tongue as he fist-pumped into the air. Naruto laughed as he pointed at the slightly drunk dragonslayer.

"See, still the same."

"He's going to pay for that," Cana said. Immediately, Natsu seemed to gain his bearings and leaned over the table, placing his mouth over the cup. Naruto, Gray and Cana sweatdropped as they stared at Natsu.

"Um…what are you doing?" They all asked. Natsu looked up at them and said –

"If I throw it up, I won't have to pay for it, right?" Naruto and Gray facepalmed while Cana's face turned green from the thought.

**XShuyaX**

Makarov jumped up from his spot on the bar counter and flipped multiple times to land on the second floor…only to hit his back against the handrail. All of those that saw it sweatdropped. Their master was strong, but ridiculously stupid or just careless at times. The master coughed loudly to gather the attention of the entire guild. All of the guild members had looked up or stood up to give their attention to the master of the guild, he lifted a stack of papers and began speaking.

"As you all know, this is the time of year for our S-Class Trials. After much deliberation among the other S-Class mages of Fairy Tail, we have conjured a list of the mages that will be contesting in this year's trials. So, congratulate your fellow mages as I begin," Makarov said. He looked down at the paper and immediately, all the mages began to tense up. This was the moment they had been waiting for and had increased their mission load in the recent weeks for.

"The first candidate that was accepted was Evergreen!"Every mage clapped for the candidate, proud and happy for the possibility of a new S-Class mage. The mages closer to her, who were Bixlow and Freed, both gave her a pat on the shoulder or the back in cheerfulness. "As a high A-class mage and the owner of a good reputation among the council as "not so destructive for Fairy Tail mages", you were accepted for this year's trials. Congrautations!" Again, the guild members all in the hall clapped. Makarov coughed to silence the mages as he flipped through his paper again.

"Right. Well…wait what is this? A request. Regulations? Who needs that," Makarov began to throw a large chunk of his papers behind his back as he continued to quickly peruse through the list. After about another minute or so, Makarov now held six papers in his hand. "Right, well, onwards we go. The next mage from our list is Bixlow! Congratulations!" Evergreen and Freed both turned to the blue-haired mage and playfully slapped him in the face as he stared up at Makarov in shock. Well, he asked for a slap since he said that he must have been dreaming. Now, all that would be needed to complete their group would be Freed and their team was all in the S-Class Trials. Makarov turned over the page, leaving four more unread.

"The next mage is Freed! We have found your actions exemplary and so, not are we allowing you to take the S-Class Trials but have also put our compliments and hopes in you as leader of your group. Well done, Freed." The trio, Evergreen, Freed, and Bixlow turned to each and grave each other a smirk. They would push each other to edge. Just because they constituted a team doesn't mean that they would back down an inch. Makarov flipped the page, but instead of starting immediately, he narrowed his eyes and stared at the paper. Then, he flipped it over, and then flipped it over again to the last page.

"Well, that's strange." Everyone sweatdropped.

"_He didn't read the results beforehand?"_

"The last three papers are all for one person. This one, we had to go to the magic council for. Apparently, the magic council has accepted our proposal after a long debate over whether or not they should allow it. The last person that is in the trials is…" All the guild remained dead silent, each waiting for their name to be called. Cana had her eyes closed and was holding her breath. Natsu and Narto were staring up at the guild master with an excited look on his face. Gray was…stripping. Erza and Mira were glaring at each other, telling the other that it was her, not the other girl. The suspense was literally palpable in the room before Makarov named the last contestant. Then, his lips began to move. Everyone leaned in to hear better.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Dead silence was the response. Makarov had requested for a thirteen year old to participate in the S-Class Trials, the youngest age ever to participate? Okay, that was ridiculous, but this was Fairy Tail, so that gave him a lot of slack. But seriously? The magic council not only taken it without berating the master but had also accepted the request. What was the world coming to?

"EEEHHHH!" The whole guild shouted out in unison, their disbelief quite obvious. Only Naruto's team found it completely reasonable, although Mira and Erza had to grudgingly admit that the blonde fit the last position better than either of them could. Makarov raised his hand in a gesture for silence. The guild promptly gave him the floor once more.

"These aren't my words. The council has spoken. 'The magic council has accepted the request due to one Naruto Uzumaki's exemplary behavior during missions. He has not once caused destruction during his stay in Fairy Tail, has filed complete mission reports with no potholes, and is also a high A-class mage. His unrivaled use of **Ancient Rune **magic, an extremely esoteric magic that may be only currently accessible to him, has made him a high contender for the placements. Adding to his already distinguished repertoire of magic abilities are **Wind, Clone Magic,** and** Pure Magic Manipulation**. With these circumstances and conditions given, we, the council, have accepted your request and have given permission for Naruto Uzumaki to partake in the S-Class trials.' And then the rest of the paper goes on to say random things that aren't really important." Everyone turned to stare at the blonde in surprise at the amount of things that he can perform, a majority of them which the guild had no idea of. They had never seen him use anything other than his **Ancient Rune** magic and his **Clone Magic**, which he was already a master of. Who was to say that he wasn't an expert of **Wind **manipulation and **Pure Magic Manipulation**, a magic that they had never heard of. Suddenly, the guild looked at the blonde in a new light: someone ridiculously overpowered at an extremely young age.

Naruto grumbled as he turned his head away from his guild members. However, the silence ended when all of the guild members began to clap and cheer for the blonde. When the noise had died down and all the members had stopped congratulating the blonde by patting his back a bit too hard, Makarov spoke for the last time about the S-Class Trials.

"The trials are to take place next week on an island about five hours away by boat. Choose your partner and choose well. That is all the information I am giving out. Congratulations to all that have been chosen and good luck!" Makarov said, his voice booming throughout the guild hall.

A few minutes later, Naruto walked up to Makarov who was back at the bar counter once more.

"You didn't have to read off my abilities. That just made the competition that much more difficult," Naruto said with some irritation in his voice. Makarov looked up and gave a knowing smile.

"They would find out sooner or later. Besides, they're your family, so why not?" Naruto turned his head and looked up to face Makarov.

"Deception is key. If I never used those abilities, it was for a reason, don't you think?" Naruto sighed when he received no response. "It doesn't matter. It's not like they know what I can do with them anyways," Naruto said, indicating the rest of the guild. With that Naruto walked away with the master watching his back, Makarov wondering what the blonde had meant by no one knew what he could truly do.

"_The S-Class Trials this year are sure to be interesting."_ Makarov thought to himself as he took another drink from his beer, only to find it empty.

Elsewhere in the guild hall, Naruto was approaching his team. The moment they saw him, they all congratulated him immediately. Natsu began to talk incessantly as Gray gave Naruto a fist bump and Cana gave the blonde a light hug. Forcing the excited dragonslayer to calm down, Naruto spoke.

"Gray, I want you to be my partner for the S-Class Trials." Gray's and Natsu's eyes opened wide in surprise; one because he wasn't expecting it and the other because he felt he deserved the position of Naruto's partner. However, Natsu kept his mouth shut. Over the year on being on Naruto's team, he had learned that when the blonde did something, he had a logical reasoning behind it.

"Are you sure? I mean, wouldn't your **Wind** magic go better with Natsu? After all, fire and wind together make an extremely good combination, doesn't it?" Naruto nodded his head, agreeing with the truth of the statement.

"That is true. However, the trials aren't to see how destructive I can be. It's to see how I control myself in any situation…at least that's what I think. If I'm correct, we're also going to have to fight one of the S-class mages, which means Mytogan, who I still have never seen enter the guild, Laxus, Gildarts, or…master. Either way, destruction won't work on any of them if what you told me about their skill set is true. You would be a better partner overall in this situation. So, do you accept, or do I have to take Cana?" Gray immediately began to nod his head.

"Hey, why would I be last?" Naruto turned to the pink-haired boy and began to run off reason after reason.

"Because you wouldn't be able to fight evenly against any of the S-class mages for even a minute, based on your stats currently. You are too excitable, which is why I would go with Gray or Cana. And finally…I don't need to destroy any islands." Natsu's eyes lit up.

"If you and I worked together, we can destroy an island? That's so cool!" Naruto sighed and pressed his fingers against his forehead, but he didn't deny it, which Cana and Gray noticed. Then, the blonde looked up and focused on Gray.

"OK, for the next week, I'm going to train with you only and I'm going to show you some of my real magic so that you don't get too surprised during battles if we have any, alright?" Gray nodded his head. With that said, Naruto turned around and began to walk out of the guild with Gray in tow.

On the way out, Erza and Mira were waiting for the two boys, or more specifically, Naruto. The two boys stopped walking when they were a few feet away from the two girls.

"…"

"Do you want to say something?" Erza and Mira began to struggle with the words they were about to say.

"Err..um…con-co-congratulations!" They said in sync, although they way they said it seemed to be more out of anger than anything else. Naruto raised his eyes.

"Um…thanks?" Erza nodded her head and began to walk away. Mira, however, wasn't done.

"But…why did they choose you over me, or even Erza? We're older and we should be strong enough, right? You're only thirteen." Naruto immediately shook his head, but it wasn't to deny her reasoning.

"What's the difference between an S-class mage and an A-class mage? Don't tell me eighteen letters; that's something Natsu said," Naruto said, getting a small laugh out of the usually angry Mira. Well, only angry or irritated around the blonde.

"Isn't it strength and intelligence? Like planning and stuff? I mean, I don't like to admit but you're definitely better than us in tactics, but I've never seen you actually use strength…then what made you a better candidate?" Naruto began to walk past the girl and stopped when he was shoulder to shoulder with her, the two facing opposite directions.

"Let me tell you something you already know: this world isn't all rainbows and butterflies and happy. It's a dark world and a light world, and it's not really fair either; the only fair thing I can say for certain are the twenty four hours in a day given to each person. You do what you do with your time; I trained every day until I couldn't move anymore, and Natsu worked with me every day. But that's not the point. Here's the difference between you…and me." Naruto began to walk again. When he was about to pass the girl, he stopped so that he was shoulder to shoulder with her, about to walk past her. Mira listened attentively, waiting to hear the wise advice the blonde would give to her. Oh, this would be gold! She would learn something and have something over Erza!

"I'm…just better than you," Naruto said. Mira stayed silent, the words echoing in her head before she understood what the blonde had said. When she had turned around to punch the blonde, he and Gray were already gone, a seal tag in midair where her fist was moving towards too quickly to stop.

A loud thump was heard near the front of the guild along with a scream of indignation. Never mind grudging respect. She _hated _that blonde bastard!

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: One Week)

Naruto, Gray, and the rest of the candidates with their partners were currently standing on a ship that had just reached the island. The island was surrounded with tall…scratch that, gigantic trees that literally towered hundreds of feet high. However, in the epicenter of the trees was a huge clearing, at least a few miles in diameter. On one side of the clearing was a mountain with eight large jutting rocks that was visible from the ship, a distance of almost ten miles.

"Now, we officially begin the S-Class Trials. This is the first of three parts of the trials: reach the rocks over there that look like stumps," Makarov said. The whole group sweatdropped.

"_Wow…such describing words. Let the wise words of Makarov be told in the history books in the future." _Naruto thought to himself sarcastically.

"The last group to arrive will be disqualified. Begin!" Then, Makarov disappeared in a mist, indicating that he was just a **Thought Projection**.

For a moment, the four groups stayed still. Then, all hell broke loose as they began to dash for the tree line, blocking each other with spells and attacks while running. Naruto stayed back, forcing Gray to wait with him. Then, the blonde pulled out a tri-ponged kunai, one that Gray had learned was one of the blonde's most prized kunais and seals.

"Grab onto me. This ride is gonna get a little funky," Naruto said. The blonde threw the kunai as hard as he could with chakra backing up his throw. After the kunai had flown for nearly a mile, Naruto and Gray suddenly disappeared in an orange flash, reappearing in the air almost a hundred feet high, and way ahead of the rest of the competitors.

"See ya, suckers!" Naruto screamed behind him as he threw his kunai again.

"_**Hiraishin no Jutsu**__!" _And Naruto and Gray disappeared in a flash again. They were obviously first by a long shot. They came first with a significant lead and were able to rest for nearly ten minutes before the rest of the teams came in; a good start to the trials if you ask Naruto.

**Chapter End.**

**Next Chapter: You're within my Field of Divination!**

**A/N: This was not a good chapter...yea. Anyways, this chapter was mainly an appetizer. The next chapter will explain why Naruto's chakra based abilities are considered a "Lost Magic" and other details. **

**I'm going to have so much fun typing the next one, hehe. Prepare to be...mind blown. Maybe.**

**Please leave nice and long reviews…and criticisms for this chapter. I know it's coming. It's coming.**


	6. Chapter 5: Within my Field of Divination

**Chapter 5: You're within my Field of Divination!**

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for your support throughout my first week. It felt so good to see so many people say they enjoyed my story. Also, thank you for giving me reviews. I have to thank all of you that gave reviews and criticisms.**

**Information on the story: Naruto's Pure Magic Manipulation is considered Lost Magic in a way is because Eterano is converted into magic abilities. Almost no one, if not anyone else, can simply create a physical creation from simple magical energy. That's why the Rasengan was so difficult. It was a simple creation made by chakra that also required ridiculous manipulation of chakra while spinning the ball at tremendous speeds. However, it's also important to note that chakra manipulation is much easier than pure magic manipulation since chakra is much denser and is also a part of the person; it's the physical and life force (spiritual) energies.**

**So, without further adieu…disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Naruto. Simple as that, right? Kishimoto, please. **

**Chapter 5 START**

"That was fast," Makarov said when Naruto appeared in an orange flash with Gray in tow, the blonde putting his tri-ponged kunai into his seal on his skin. Naruto and Gray looked up and both smirked.

"Don't underestimate seals. Like I said, they're literally limitless in what they can do," Naruto said challengingly. Makarov smiled and told the boys to wait until the rest of the contestants joined them. So, the blonde and black-haired contestants sat down on the dirt on top of the tall, flat clearing and began to rest for the next stage of the trials.

The blonde sat still for a moment, meditating to gather natural energy from the air around him. When he had entered **Sage Mode**, which neither Gray nor Makarov had noticed because Naruto had hidden his chakra level by increasing his control, the blonde began to spread out his senses to find out what was going on with the other contestants. When he found them, he was immediately thankful for his Tou-san's signature technique; the three groups were throwing spell after spell which was draining on their magic reserves quite quickly. Naruto could feel that their reserves were dropping. Well, it wouldn't really be a problem for the blonde, since his chakra reserves were ridiculously high and his purified chakra was also extremely potent. However, he needed Gray to be in his top condition for whatever that would come next in the trials.

Naruto went out of **Sage Mode** and created ten clones, each which immediately began to grab sealing paper from their respective pouches and drew various seals with a paintbrush. Naruto joined them, drawing one of his more complicated seals.

Gray, who was watching, was always entranced when Naruto drew seals, whether it was during battle, during training, or even during breaks. It was a work of art to him; to create such beautifully complicated runes with ease and do it without a single cessation of movement, and all with the fragile item called the paintbrush, was something that amazed Gray every time he saw it.

"What are you doing?" Gray asked. One of the clones responded, but none of blondes actually looked up from their current work to look at Gray when they responded; the seals were more important currently.

"We're making seals for any kind of situation. We don't know what's going to happen for the next part of the trials, or the last part either, so the more diverse our seals are, the better chance we have of passing." Gray nodded and remained silent afterwards, deciding to leave the blonde to his work. He had tried to learn **Runes** one time when he had seen how handily Naruto had beaten Erza and Mira with seals, but quickly dropped it when he found out how complicated the magic was. How the blonde was not only able to understand and write seals, but be able to use **Ancient Runes**, which was an even more complicated form of **Rune **magic, would bewilder the **Ice Make** mage for a year's to come.

About ten minutes later, the first of the other three contestants with their parents arrived. Freed came in second after Naruto, but he didn't seem too tired. Makarov congratulated the arriving mage and told him to wait, so he did, but he gave Naruto a quick glance before sitting down. He was most likely surprised at the teleportation skill Naruto had shown only a few minutes before.

Another minute later, Evergreen came in and explained that she had petrified Bixlow on the way but that the mage was fine. Makarov nodded and stood up from a rock on the ground.

"To the three of you that have made it, you will continue on to the next stage of the S-Class Trials. If you walk straight past me for five minutes, you will find an entrance to some sort of cave. There will be three tunnels, one for each of you. You cannot fight amongst each other on the way or you forfeit your position in the trials. Begin!" Makarov said. Then, the old man jumped away, going in the direction of the boat to find the petrified Bixlow in the middle of the large clearing.

The three remaining pairs stayed still for a moment on the floor. Then, Naruto stood up and patted down his sage coat and pants and began to walk forwards.

"Let's go, Gray," he said without turning around. Gray smirked and got up as he started to follow after Naruto. After a few moments, Freed and Everygreen followed after the blonde. They were running on three-quarters of their magic reserves unlike the blonde, who was running on an almost complete tank. Freed caught up to the blonde and remained silent before striking a conversation.

"What seal was that you used to teleport?" Silence descended on the two when Naruto didn't respond, the blonde deciding whether or not to tell the other candidate for S-class position his technique.

"_He already saw it, so why not."_

"It's one of my most complicated seals; it allows to instantly teleport to wherever my seal currently is," Naruto said. Freed, Evergreen, and their two partners all widened their eyes in shock. "Whoever is holding onto me is also teleported at the same time, as you saw with me and Gray."

"I noticed you said one of your most complicated seals. You have seals that are even more extreme than your ability of instant transportation?" Freed asked. Naruto shut his mouth. Then, he said –

"That's something you'll find out for yourself when I use it. Like I said, seals are limitless in their potential as long as you have the imagination to create it." After that, the blonde stopped talking, so the rest of the group didn't ask any more questions and remained silent the rest of the way to the tunnels.

Going past the entrance of the underground tunnel and taking the stairs to go down, the three groups eventually found that the tunnel really did split into three paths.

"_Something's strange about this tunnel, though. The surface and the cuts are too neat; tools weren't used in the making of his underground passage. It had to be __**Earth**__ based magic." _Naruto thought to himself.

"Good luck to you all," Naruto said as he took the path down the middle without waiting for a response, Gray right next to the blonde. For the first time since Gray had met Naruto, the blonde was all business at the moment, something he had never seen. On every single mission, the blonde had treated enemies like a joke or had done his random introduction every time, although the latter may have been done to create a distraction.

"I've never seen you so serious before, Naruto," Gray said off-handedly. Naruto smirked, breaking out of his serious expression for a moment before returning to it right afterwards.

"When I was meditating back on the top of the clearing, I went into a sensory mode to find out how our competition was doing. However, I felt three other large magic reserves in the opposite direction. The largest one was down the middle…" Gray dropped his jaws and widened his eyes in shock.

"You're kidding me! You purposely chose the middle? It wasn't just because you felt like it or due to chance?" Naruto shook his head.

"Nope. I think my luck is almost godly, but this time, I chose our path. And this path…is straight towards Gildarts," the blonde said, eagerness literally spilling out of his words. Gray gulped in slight fear. Gildarts, the ace of Fairy Tail, was a name known to all mages throughout Fiore. He basically stood at the same level as Master. Not a single guild member could actually make the man get serious since none of them had ever made him move a single foot. Unofficially, he was considered an SS-class mage based on his skills and his mission list. For Gray to see Naruto walking towards the monster with a serious face, but a feral smirk behind that façade, made the **Ice Make** mage wonder what Naruto was up to.

After a few minutes of walking, the two boys entered a huge cavernous room that was at least the size of a large palace hall. Naruto whistled in appreciation of the large room, the high-pitched sound echoing throughout the room multiple times.

"So, I have the youngest mage to participate in the S-Class Trials of all time. How interesting this will be." Naruto dropped his eyes from the ceiling to straight in front of him. Gildarts Clive, with his black cape billowing lightly in a nonexistent wind, had a smile on his face. "I heard many things about you during my short stops at the guild, Naruto." Said boy chuckled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Mah…I hope they were good things," Naruto said. Gildarts chuckled while he nodded his head.

"Yes, they were all compliments towards you. But I want to see for myself…so come at me with everything you got, the number one unpredictable mage," Gildarts said, not moving into any stance to defend himself. Naruto's sheepish expression immediately changed to one of seriousness. Gray was shaking slightly in fear and worry at the prospect at fighting the number one mage of Fairy Tail.

"Gray, I'm going to do my best, so help me out here. I'll do everything I can to prevent you from getting into too much harm. Can you do this?" Naruto asked. Gray looked over at the blonde's serious expression. Finding his resolution, the mage stopped shaking and glared with determination at Gildarts. If Naruto was counting on him, then he would do it.

"Yea…you can count on me!" Gray said with determination. Naruto lost his serious expression and plastered a feral smirk on his face. Oh, this would be fun.

"Good. Create a floor about five feet above the ground that spread throughout the whole room. I know it'll be difficult to create something that large, but my plan requires this. Make sure it is think enough so that it won't break easily, alright?" Gray nodded and began to release his magic.

"**Ice Make: Floor!**" Gildarts, Naruto, and Gray all jumped up when a huge expanse of ice spread out, covering the whole room exactly five feet above the original ground. When the three touched down on the new floor, they all had different reactions. Gray was already used to fighting on a slippery surface, so he had no trouble walking on the ice. Naruto had to direct his chakra to his feet to stay stable. Finally, Gildarts just stood still and smiled, wanting to see where this plan of the blonde's would go. According to Makarov, the blonde was a master tactician.

"_I'm going to need at least five minutes to do this, so…__**Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Massive Shadow Clone Technique)**__! A thousand should be enough,"_ Naruto thought to himself as he felt twenty percent of his chakra leave his body as a thousand and two clones appeared under the ice floor. Gildarts felt the humongous increase of energy build up in the blonde and was confused when nothing appeared. However, trusting Makarov when the master said that the blonde was an expert at misdirection and tactics, he would give the blonde the benefit of the doubt.

Naruto created twelve more clones that appeared in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, they were seen sitting on the ice floor with instruments on their lap. When they began to play the first note of Naruto's now famous introduction – it was known throughout Fiore now – Naruto began to hop on one foot and dance.

"I am the number one unpredictable mage. I am a contender for the S-Class Trials of X779 at the age of thirteen. Women who see me swoon; men who see me tremble. My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto said loudly, his voice reverberating throughout the cavernous rock room as he finished with a wild pose, standing on one leg with his right arm in front and his left arm behind the blonde. Gray was used to it and knew that the blonde was buying time for whatever plan he had so he remained serious. However, Gildarts thought differently since it was the first time he had actually met the blonde.

"_Is this really the mage that Makarov was confident in?" _Naruto yelped as he slipped on his foot and fell face-first onto the ice floor. Now Gray sweatdropped along with Gildarts, whose sweatdrop was now large enough to make a small puddle underneath the extremely powerful man.

"**Rasengan** **(Spiralling Sphere)!**" Naruto yelled out from behind Gildarts, the Naruto on the floor that slipped disappearing in a cloud of smoke indicating that it was a clone. Gildarts widened his eyes and shot his hand behind his back, releasing his **Crash **magic immediately. Naruto felt like he had hit a barrier and tried to press forwards only to find that his golden **Rasengan** was slowly disappearing. Then, the blonde was forced back when Gildarts increased the magical pressure on his attack.

Naruto flew backwards into the air, so that now the blonde and Gray were standing on opposite ends of the powerful mage. Naruto created a clone and then disappeared in an orange flash, appearing next to Gray who was had a certain seal on his right arm.

"He was able to catch that?" Gray said in a disbelieving tone. Naruto pulled out a tri-ponged kunai and gripped it with his left hand as he stared at the mage. In that single encounter, he had already deduced that **Crash **magic was basically like **Shinra Tensei**. It was unable to be seen, the range was still questionable but was most likely based on the amount of strength behind the attack, and finally, it was stupidly overpowered. To be able to break down his purified chakra **Rasengan** and still force the blonde to fly away…that magic was ridiculously strong. But if Naruto could get a single hit on the opponent, then the battle would turn in Naruto's favor immediately. Or, if he lasted another four minutes, then the battle would most likely be his…maybe. Naruto still wasn't sure about the stipulations of the **Crash** magic that Gildarts used.

Naruto gave a small hand signal to Gray to which the ice mage nodded to curtly. Naruto threw his kunai and teleported next to Gildarts, a slightly larger **Rasengan** already formed in his hand. Gildarts shot out with his **Crash **magic at the incoming blonde, but the blonde disappeared again.

"_His other clone threw another one of those blades?!"_Gildarts thought in surprise. Naruto appeared behind the mage and reached forwards with his **Chu Oodama Rasengan (Giant Spiraling Sphere)**. Gildarts shot out with his other hand, but Gray was prepared. The ice mage created a shield in front of the blonde to prevent too much damage from occurring. The **Crash **magic fought against the powerful ice shield for only a half-second before breaking though, but that was way more than enough time for Naruto to flash again, appearing right above the mage.

"Take this!" Naruto screamed out from overhead of the great mage, his giant golden **Rasengan** coming down quickly. However, Naruto's attack stopped an inch from GIldarts head, and then the giant spiraling sphere began to disappear as its matter was quickly destroyed. Naruto flashed away before getting hit by the **Crash** magic. When Gildarts' attack hit the ceiling, large chunks of rock fell from the top of the room and fell on the ice floor, but the floor held strong.

Naruto let out a breath of relief. If Gildarts had seen what his clones were doing underneath that floor, then the S-class mage would definitely not allow the blonde to continue, and then the blonde's plan would be foiled. Naruto jumped back a few meters to create distance and stopped when he was again next to Gray.

"Your magic is overpowered, you know that?" Naruto said. Gildarts chuckled.

"Didn't you say that your seals can do anything?" Naruto smirked before he disappeared in a blur, moving quickly enough to suddenly appear in front of Gildarts. The blonde's smirk widened as he began to feel Gildarts' magic rise.

"Yes, I did," the blonde said before pulling out a seal. Suddenly, a circular barrier of violent wind and flaming fires appeared around the blonde, preventing both Gray and Gildarts from seeing the blonde. Naruto crashed against Gildarts' **Crash **barrier which the man had erected as a precaution. The S-class mage increased the power of his barrier to push the blonde away but was surprised when Naruto's barrier didn't let up in the slightest as it continued to battle for dominance against Gildarts' barrier.

What Gildarts didn't know is that inside Naruto's barrier, the blonde was holding another seal that was slowly sucking up the **Crash **magic barrier. It was the same seal that Naruto had used against Natsu to suck up the dragonslayer's **Fire Dragon's Roar**.

While Gildarts was focusing on the circular flaming barrier of the blonde, which had a searing heat, Gray appeared behind his opponent and raised both of his hands before bringing them down, as if controlling something telekinetically. Suddenly, ice needles appeared in the air as water droplets materialized in the air before freezing.

"**Ice Make: Thousand Needles of Death!**" Gray shouted. Thousands of needles rushed at the S-class mage at a high velocity, every one of the needles moving so quickly that it was almost invisible. Gildarts barely increased the strength of his barrier again before the needles pierced through his barrier, all of them stopping only a few inches from any part of the S-class mage's body.

"_They're a surprisingly good tag team. I should increase my power to ten percent,"_ Gildarts thought to himself. However, Gray didn't let up in his barrage as he released a large amount of magic, dropping the ice mage's magic reserves significantly. Instead of needles, the piercing projectiles turned into large glaciers with a sharp edge.

"**Ice Make: Glacier Barrage!**" Gildarts widened his eyes at the oncoming rush of attacks. He threw his hands up, his palms facing the oncoming glaciers. However, Naruto flashed right in front of the hands, his flaming barrier gone. Naruto raised another seal tag as he smirked.

"_What is he doing? The glaciers are going to hit him!" _Gildarts thought to himself, not even caring about the fact that his **Crash **magic was going towards the blonde as well. When the **Crash **magic touched the seal that was held in the blonde's fingers, the letters on the paper glowed brightly. Then, the matter-destroying attack from Gildarts began to get sucked into the paper. When Naruto felt his seal reaching its limit, he flashed out of the way and appeared next to Gray, and it was just in time. Gray's barrage of sharp glaciers just reached Gildarts.

A huge boom resounded in the room, but no dust rose since the floor was ice. However, the giant room did shake slightly as some small chunks of rocks fell from the ceiling. Naruto stared at the point of impact and saw the Gildarts was not at the spot where the glaciers had struck, but he was also glad to notice that the ice floor had not completely broken yet; the impact had only gone halfway through the floor.

"_Just another two minutes. Just have to hold onto this battle for one minute and fifty-four seconds. Fifty-three. Fifty-two." _Naruto continued to count down the amount of time remaining as he and Gray looked for Gildarts. The two boys' search for Gildarts ended when the sound of a clap reverberated. The pair turned around to find the origin of the sound and saw Gildarts clapping.

"Congratulations. You two forced me to move. So…" Gildarts' magic levels began to increase. Then, it exploded as a pillar of light erupted from the mage. The magical pressure was suffocating Gray, but Naruto was standing tall and holding onto his concentration with ease since he was used to large amount of pressure.

"_But the amount he's releasing is enough to challenge two Kage-level shinobis combined." _Naruto thought in slight surprise. However, the blonde's smirk increased as he raised his hands…and clapped them together.

"**Sage Mode**!" Naruto yelled out. Suddenly, the blonde's chakra increased until it equaled Gildarts and even surpassed the man's. Gray noted that the blonde's eyes were now golden with a strange bar like thing that went horizontally across the pupil, and now he had a strange orange makeup around the eyes. However, Naruto's dominance in magic levels quickly ended when Gildart's magic levels exploded again, exponentially rising once more. Naruto cursed to himself.

"_Damn it! I can't use an Incomplete __**Kyuubi Chakra Mode**__ with __**Sage Mode**__; they'll both just shut down. Okay…I'm going to have to gamble this."_ Naruto dropped into a low position as he bent his knees and moved both of his hands to his two sides. Then, without any seals, four clones appeared next to the blonde and began to rub the air above the blonde's palm.

"I can't hold this form for too long…SO LET'S SEE WHO'S ATTACK IS STRONGER!" Naruto yelled out challengingly. Gildarts, who currently seemed like the devil himself with his currently strength, laughed out loud as he brought up both of his hands in response and focused his **Crash **magic into his palms. Although he wouldn't go all-out with the blonde, he could find out what was stronger: one of his most powerful attacks when he was at fifty percent, or the blonde's strongest attack.

Naruto's chakra levels increased again. Although it wouldn't take all of his chakra, it would bring him down to about twenty percent or lower. The clones began to increase their hand movements, their hands blurring as they continued to rub the air. Then, a screeching sound filled the air as a golden spinning **Rasengan **appeared in both of Naruto's hands. The clones continued to rub it until it was the size of a complete **Rasenshuriken**.

"_But I'm not done yet!" _Naruto began to add even more chakra to his attack, falling back on both his reserves and his magic reserves that had just kicked in. The thing about magic is that it doesn't require any kind of affinity to use any of the elements better. Instead, training was all that was required, which Naruto could do in spades. Naruto roared as he added fire into his **Rasenshuriken** that was becoming even larger, spinning at unreal speeds as the sounds of the screeching bells became louder and louder. Gray, who had his hands over his ears, was staring at the two rivaling mages in complete admiration and helplessness while on his knees from the pressure. He could barely even stay conscious from the ridiculous pressure the two were exerting.

"_This…is what S-class mages can do? I can't even hold a candle to Gildarts, I knew that…but was Naruto always this strong?" _Gray turned his head to stare Naruto, the blonde staring straight at Gildarts with a smirk whose attack was also increasing in strength as the **Crash **magic actually began to become visible. When Naruto added fire into his **Wind Style: Rasenshuriken**, Gray was forced to jump away from the ridiculous heat the spinning attack was producing. The ice below the blonde began to melt at an extreme pace. Then, the blonde did something ridiculous. When the four clones disappeared after both **Fire and Wind Style: Rasenshuriken** were complete, Naruto raised both of them over his head…and combined them. The attack quadrupled in size and became even more ferocious, stretching for almost twenty meters. Now, the ice below the blonde was melting even faster despite the fact that Gray had reinforced the ice beneath the blonde and was trying to prevent the ice from melting any further.

"_This is…my best shot! Nearly twenty itmes more destructive and powerful than my regular __**Wind Style: Rasenshuriken**__! With my purified potent golden chakra and fire added to wind…let's see how strong you really are, Gildarts!"_

"Take this!" Naruto yelled as he began to wind up to throw the massive chakra taxing ability, his current masterpiece. Gildarts roared as he let go of his **Crash **magic, the ability currently cracking the ice and slowly wearing down on the whole battlefield. The rock ceiling and sides were breaking down. Then, Gildarts released his attack, the visible **Crash** attack zooming towards Naruto, the ice all cracking and breaking wherever the attack passed over. Naruto was at the end of his throw, the **Fire and Wind Style: Rasenshuriken** at the end of his fingers.

"Just kidding," Naruto muttered as a Naruto clone appeared in front of the blonde with a huge paper seal. This was the point of the extra two clones after his creation of the first thousand. One would gather natural energy, and the other would draw up his strongest absorption seal. This time, Gildarts showed unrestrained shock on his face when one of his most powerful abilities was slowly sucked up and drained into the seal.

"Y_our five minutes are up, Gildarts! You will lose because you underestimated me! And __I've always wanted to say this line at least once…"_

Naruto jumped up off the ice floor and flipped with the fake throw to hold onto his new **Rasenshuriken** as the whole floor was destroyed. Thousands of clones were exposed, all flying towards Gildarts with a normal golden **Rasengan**, due to the color of his chakra, but they were all taken care of with the monster's **Crash **magic.

"You're within my Field of Divination!" Naruto shouted. Suddenly, Gildarts saw what Naruto meant. Underneath the broken ice floor and on the real floor of the rock room…was a ridiculously long and complicated seal that covered the whole room and was beginning to all glow a bright blue color.

"_What kind of rune is that?! How did he manage to make something so complicated within five minutes?"_ Gildarts thought. However, he was still holding back against the blonde who was now going all out. Gildarts set his eyes on the remaining blonde in the air with the dangerous kinjutsu, strong enough to destroy mountains at full power. Currently, however, he only had enough chakra and control to create one strong enough to destroy a small hill. But in a few years, it would be almost as strong as his **Bijuu Rasenshuriken**. Naruto couldn't wait to add Fire to the mix of that attack.

Then, Naruto disappeared in a flash, reapparing behind Gildarts. The blonde threw the kinjutsu at his opponent. Gildarts, who saw this, immediately brought up his **Crash **barrier to as high as possible within the short period of time it took for the massive chakra and magic based attack to reach him. When it did, Gildarts was barely able to hold it back, but was still doing so while at the same time breaking down the attack with his magic. Naruto smirked, however, when he noticed this.

"_I made the core slightly unstable so that if it was even barely tampered with…"_

The clone of Naruto disappeared in a flash and appeared on one of the glowing seals right where Gildarts was flying over, bypassing most of the man's barrier in one go. Then, the clone pushed itself through the rest of the barrier despite the damage it received and punched Gildarts in the face and the chest, resulting in almost no damager. However, the clone had managed to do two things: push Gildarts further towards the core of the unstable attack and also had put a seal on the S-class mage, The **Fire and Wind Style: Rasenshuriken** exploded, creating a huge dome of circling fire and wind with millions of chakra needles…and Gildarts was in the middle of it. Naruto flew backwards from the impact of the explosion and skidded across the stone floor, coughing and heaving heavily. The attack had taken almost all of his chakra and he could feel the Eterano in the air begin to fill up his magic reserves; his chakra reserves were only at eleven percent.

After thirty seconds of constant screeching and destruction, the dome disappeared, revealing a panting Gildarts. However, there wasn't a single scratch on the man, which made Naruto frown. The blonde got off of his stomach, his body aching and creaking as he pushed off of his legs.

"Haa…haa…I'm…definitely going to beat you," Naruto panted out. Gray was watching Naruto with wide eyes. For the first time…Naruto was going completely all out, something he had never seen before. And the blonde's eyes had returned back to blue but…they were so full of fire and determination, almost like Natsu's. "I may be low on my reserves but…you're still within the range of my divination!" Naruto said as he disappeared in flash, suddenly appearing in front of Gildarts by flashing to one of the seals on the floor. That was what Naruto had done during the five minutes: create a giant **Hiraishin** seal that covered the whole expanse of the floor, allowing him to flash to wherever he wanted in the room as long as he had chakra left in his body.

Naruto threw two tags in rapid succession, a **Barrier/Absorption Seal** first, and then a **Gravity Seal**. The first seal did its job by breaking through the man's slightly weaker barrier, but the **Gravity Seal **wasn't able to reach the mage, floating in midair in front of the man.

"Haa…haa…**Katsu!"** Naruto shouted. Suddenly, the **Gravity Seal** began to spark until it exploded. Naruto had infused an explosive tag with the seal as a failsafe.

The blonde dropped to his knees and fell backwards on the floor on the floor. Creating something like the **Fire and Wind Style: Rasenshuriken** on both hands, then combining them and keeping it up for about twenty seconds, was ridiculously taxing on Naruto's reserves. The blonde landed on his back, his head bouncing slightly from hitting the ground. Then, the blonde just stared up at the ceiling of the stone room.

"Geh…I guess I lost, huh?" Gildarts stayed silent and motionless, staring at the prone figure of the blonde as he just stared upwards.

"_Makarov was right…to be able to force me to go up to fifty percent…this kid will be a monster in the future. No doubt, he'll be the ace of Fairy Tail in just a few years. Hell…in ten years, I'll say he'll be at a level of his own,"_ Gildarts mused to himself.

"You pass the second trial," he said. Gray, when he heard this, was shocked and shouted in happiness and glee for the blonde. He wasn't expecting that. Naruto on the other hand was a bit more experienced when it came to exams like these. Even if a person failed or lost in the finals of the Chunnin Exams, he or she could still become a Chunnin if that person received enough up votes to receive the rank. Naruto chuckled when he heard Gray's shout of happiness.

"NARUTO, YOU DID IT! HELL YEAH!" Gray shouted, suddenly getting all of his energy back as he ran around the room, cheering and screaming uncontrollably. Naruto struggled to get up and got onto his knees before flashing to where one of his absorption seals was, the one which absorbed Gildarts most powerful attack when the two were in a sort of deadlock. Naruto picked it up and slapped it onto his chest. Immediately, he could feel the magic entering his body and converting back into chakra, although it would take time for it to convert into the purified, golden chakra. Naruto sighed in relief as he felt his reserves go up from less than eight percent to nearly thirty percent and still rising.

"You're one crazy kid, you know that?" Naruto chuckled.

"I'm unpredictable," he said in response. Gildarts gave off a small snort, and then pointed in the direction to one of the walls. Naruto turned to where his finger was pointed and saw another passage.

"That is the final part of this test. This one is actually kind of a bonus. No one has ever been able to get to the end of the passage…well, I never tried it, but something tells me not to go in there for some reason. Anyways, if you find what's down there, tell us, alright? We have lacrima cameras set up in certain spots of that passage to tell us how far you got," Gildarts said as he turned around to go back up to the surface. Gray began to walk over to Naruto but was grabbed by Gildarts. "I don't think so. This last part is difficult enough that I even have to say high A-class mages or up only." Gray sighed and turned around and began to walk away with Gildarts, slightly disappointed he couldn't continue on with the blonde. However, Gray began to smile as a wonderful though entered his mind: he could brag to Natsu about this. Oh, how he couldn't wait to just shove this in that dragonslayer's face!

Naruto watched them walk away. When they had disappeared from his vision, he turned around and stared at the open passage. Unlike what Gildarts said about himself, something was _drawing _him towards whatever was at the end of the passage; it was calling him to come forwards. Naruto walked forwards and entered the cave, only to be immediately barraged by shadow and earth spikes that appeared from nowhere. Naruto created a clone and subsitited himself with it, barely dodging in the nick of time. However, the clone was not pierced. For some reason, the spikes and the shadow spears stopped right before impaling the blonde through his body.

"_Wait…shadow spear!" _Naruto turned away from the entrance and began to sprint down the passage. Along the way, multiple traps engaged the blonde but all of them stopped before striking him with a fatal attack; a fireball, and then lightning based strike, and later on, a dozen kunais, shurikens, and a ton of other weapons. Each time he was barraged by the traps, Naruto increased his pace. After nearly hundreds of the traps…

"_It can't be…but…"_

…Naruto reached the end of the passage and entered another huge, cavernous room. However, unlike the room where Naruto had fought against Gildarts, this room was full of boxes, and in the center of all of it were five books and one clear, crystal glass rectangle that contained a single object.

A headband with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf.

**(Play: Most Epic OST's Ever: The Prophecy or Naruto OST: Sadness and Sorrow...I would go with the latter)**

Naruto walked forwards, stuttering in his steps, taking almost a minute to just reach the glass and five books. When he saw what each of them said, tears began to brim in his eyes.

Sarutobi Konohamaru's Diary.

Kakashi Hatake's daily life…

Shikamaru Nara's History.

History of the Fourth Great Shinobi War.

A Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Ninja.

Naruto reached for Shikamaru's history and saw that there was a bookmark on one of the pages. The first thing it said was –

_Magic and Dragons. _

Immediately, Naruto was intrigued. So, he began to read and found out that somehow, magic had entered the world of the Elemental Nations. In a completely non-Shikamaru moment of lack of laziness, the Nara wrote a completely in-detail analysis and explanation of how magic came into the world, but it was mainly a theory. However, Shikarmaru wasn't the only Nara to work on it as Naruto saw as he continued to flip through the pages, finding that the handwriting changed as he went further and further along the research. But what he understood with just a glance was this. At first, magic appeared, but it was considered something used just for fun since not only was it considered strange, but it was an esoteric ability since Eterano was in such low quantities in the air. Now with current facts, add the ten percent rule that only about ten percent of people were able to be mages, that's a small number. However, but it became widespread and popular when a small group of mages defeated the Tailed Beasts with their **Rune Magic** and converted their chakra into magic, never to appear again. The results were two things: Eterano spreading throughout the air and the creation of magical beasts. Dragons, essentially the creation of magic, were the highest tier of magical beasts that appeared from the conversion of the tailed beasts. Also as a result of the huge influx of magical energy in the air, the landscape began to change. As time passed, the world became different. On the next page was a map of the Elemental Nations. Naruto noticed that it was completely different from that of Earthland, but the size of the world was exactly the same. This meant one thing to Naruto...he had traveled through time...and did not go through another dimension. Kurama's words rang once more in his ears.

"**Bijuus like us cannot leave dimensions. We would mess up timelines and create huge paradoxes, which you would have known if you had actually carefully read your father's notes about space/time techniques. The fact that you are even able to leave with your status as Jinchuriki is strange by itself. In fact, there are already changes being made to your body."**

But he hadn't gone through to another dimension; the time paradox and would have been too large. So, the time he had spent spinning around those circular gates was time passing in the real world, maybe years or hundreds of years, maybe even a thousand for every minute he was in there. Either way, he would never know. All he knew what that thousands of years had passed from the time of ninjas to the time of mages. And now, he arrived at the moment where he would create the least paradox; he was never able to go to a different dimension in the first place. How the books were still legible and clean? Easy...seals. For a moment, the blonde became angry with a certain thought.

_"Then why would Kurama not be able to stay with me?! Why couldn't I stay in my dimension, Kami?! I didn't even leave the dimension...wait...paradoxes. This whole world may be...an alternate universe by itself that I don't know about."_

Naruto reached for one of the other books and opened Konohamaru's. Flipping through a few pages, Naruto stopped at a page that seemed important since it had a folded corner.

"_Naruto nii-san! Guess what? I made jonin today! Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage, even congratulated me. Isn't that great? Well…I know you're not here anymore but I feel that someday you'll hear me."_

Small droplets of tears reached the edge of Naruto's eyes as he continued to read Konohamaru's diary. He couldn't hold it in anymore when he read that Konohamaru had become the Seventh Hokage of Konoha but _"It doesn't feel right that I got the position without fighting you for it. We were rivals, remember? I was supposed to beat you up for the position and take it from your hands!" _

Naruto sealed all of the books onto his skin and created hundreds of clones to seal all of the boxes into a large storage scroll. While they were doing that, Naruto looked at the last object remaining that was in the middle of the room: the headband. It was his. He knew it. He had lost it during his fight with Madara, but he recognized the exact placement of the blood drops. He knew that scratch mark on the corner. On top of the crystal case were five lines of words.

_The last remaining object of the hero of the Fourth Great Shinobi War,_

_He never received affection or respect in his early years,_

_And he died too early to ever receive the respect in his future years,_

_The Jinchuriki of the strongest of the tailed beasts, The Kyuubi,_

_This man was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze._

Naruto stared at the words on the old, worn and torn scroll. He reached for it and held it gingerly before sealing it into his skin along with the books. These…these would be his treasures. And the headband?

Naruto gripped it, and while he blinked away his tears, he brought it to his forehead…and once again tied it.

**Chapter End.**

**Next Chapter: Rise of the Storm King**

**A/N: Woah….this was a bit harder than I was expecting. Tell me if you guys see anything that is just awful or I need to fix, even small stuff.**

**Please leave nice and long reviews. Please no flames. I love criticisms though. **

**With this, my challenge is officially over and I will not update like every day. That was just ridiculous.**


	7. Chapter 6: Rise of the Storm King

**Chapter 6: Rise of the Storm King**

**A/N: I don't know what to say…you guys are the best. Over 600 followers in a single week…and over 500 favorites…and over 30,000 hits?! I'm shocked, surprised, amazed, all that stuff. Man…I guess I can just say thanks so much to all of my supporters and my criticizers.**

**About reviewers, thank you all so much. I felt really good when I read them and I saw that many of you like my story. I'll do my best to keep my story up to par on entertainment haha, maybe bring it up a notch as I improve my writing skills. I will take all of your recommendations into consideration except for a few of them. For example, stop writing this story? Yea, that's not happening buddy. **

**Haha, some of you guys made me laugh with your reviews…and really happy. I hope you guys continue to support me as I continue this story! **

**Information on the story: Naruto is obviously the strongest of the four-man group since he's clearly S-class material. Currently, if he had a fight against Laxus, he'd probably win simply because he's more experienced at better at in-battle decisions and tactics. Natsu and Gray are about even, but Natsu is stronger because he's been training for Naruto for about a year. Gray is more of a mage than Natsu since he focuses more on his Ice Make, unlike Natsu who is currently focusing more on his physical capabilities. Finally, Cana isn't by any means weak, she's just not as strong as the other boys. Also, she didn't train with the boys, but Naruto did give her ideas on how to use her cards. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail. Simple, right?**

**Last thing. Sorry for the late update. I had to go to a wedding (which was awesome), studied the rest of Sunday (I'm Asian, duh), studied the rest of Monday and had school, and then had almost no time today. However, I found a few minutes here, a few minutes there, and this happened. Well…I hope this is agreeable to your tastes, my wonderful readers!**

**Chapter 6 START**

_The __**Storm**__ is so COOL! – Jason_

**XShuyaX**

Naruto took one last look at the cave that once held all of his past. Then, he turned around so he was once more staring straight at the crystal rectangular box that had held his headband. The blonde created a clone to write a **Hiraishin** seal on the box in case any other person made it through all of the death traps and found the cave only to find nothing there.

But now some things made sense to Naruto. The giant trees on the island and the jutting rocks on the tall cliff all defined only one place Naruto knew: Konoha. Now the blonde understood why the trees were trying to take some of his chakra when he came near the island. And he also understood what the eight rocks meant: the eight Hokages.

However, the number of questions the blonde had increased. For example, how did chakra tie in with magic? Are the two completely separate energies, or are they somewhat related? Also, how did Gildarts release more pressure than two Kages combined when he was still holding back? Was the man capturing the Eterano in the air and releasing it at the same time or was it simply because his reserves were that high? The blonde had a feeling it was a little bit of both; when Gildarts had released his magic, it felt much denser that normal Eterano, meaning that it was possible to increase the potency of magic, just like Naruto's golden chakra.

"But still, to lose that badly, that guy is a monster. When I'm eighteen again, I know I'll have maybe three or four times more chakra than he, but to be able to have such high reserves and density without chakra is amazing at the least. Well, at least I know something else now too: I will never be as strong as Kurama on my base stats. Even now if I went into **Incomplete Kyuubi Chakra Mode**, I'd probably still lose against Gildarts. Of course, after I complete **Kyuubi Chakra Mode**, **Bijuu Mode, **and **Complete Bijuu Mode**, I'll be stronger than him, but still, I have to give that guy a lot of credit. He's stronger than a majority of the ninjas of the old, huh?" Naruto said to himself analytically. Then, he sighed. He had been gone for too long; the fight against Gildarts was nearly half an hour ago. And so, the blonde disappeared in an orange flash.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Boat)

A few minutes before Naruto flashed onto the boat next to Gray, Gildarts was talking to Makarov privately about a certain blonde mage that participated in the S-Class Trials.

"So, how did it go? Did you find something interesting about Naruto-chan?" Makarov asked inquisitively.

"How old did you say Naruto was again?" Gildarts asked, deciding to get his questions answered first before responding. The two powerful mages were just standing in a corner of the boat, staring over at the island. The taller mage was leaning against the edge while the old Master was standing on the handrail.

"He's only thirteen. Why, you don't believe him?" Makarov asked questioningly. Gildarts shook his head slowly.

"Physically, yes. Mentally…I don't. The way he analyzes and plans, even in battle, is way too advanced for his age; he checked his surroundings, always had backup plan, and had a response for every situation. In order to think the way he does, he would have to have experience, something a thirteen-year old should not have. And every attack he used on me was with the intent to kill, knowing that I am _currently _stronger than he is. I'd say in a few years, he'll be on a level of his own, higher than both you and I." Makarov hummed to himself, taking in all of his new information. As Master, he had also never seen Naruto go all-out, so hearing Gildarts give his assessment of the blonde was something new; but to hear the Ace of Fairy Tail say that Naruto would be on his own level in just a few years was a huge compliment to the blonde. After a few moments of pondering, the master decided he needed to know more before he made an assumption.

"Did he show anything strange or different in his abilities?" Gildarts immediately nodded his head.

"His magic reserves are extremely high and also very potent for his age; he's definitely high S-class simply from magic reserves. He has almost half of what of I have, but his magic is much denser for some reason, at least twice as dense. Also, I think I have reason to believe that he is not only able to use **Fire**, but also **Lightning **when he used it in small bursts to speed up his movements and reactions. His strongest ability was a between **Pure Magic Manipulation**, **Wind**, and **Fire**. I think he called it **Fire and Wind Style: Rasenshuriken; **it forced to me to bring up my barrier up to fifty percent…until it exploded. That technique he used is at a whole new level," Gildarts said, shuddering slightly at what the blonde would become in the future. Makarov was shocked. To bring Gildarts up to fifty percent or higher meant that the blonde was ridiculously strong or a genius in battle. Knowing the blonde, however, Makarov quickly deduced that it was a bit of both. However, Gildarts wasn't done yet.

"Finally, he used something called **Sage Mode**. I don't know what the details are but-"

"Did you say **Sage Mode**?!" Makarov said in shock, barely holding his voice to a whisper. Gildarts nodded, but his eyebrows were raised in confusion.

"I believe so. Why?" Makarov's face became dead serious when he stared straight forwards at the island where Naruto was still at.

"I've had my thoughts and doubts about something, but now I'm almost certain. Before magic, there was something called chakra, which was the mixture between the physical and spiritual energies of the person. You knew this, right? Good. In the past, mages were able to use both chakra and magic, but as time passed, people began to focus more and more on the magic side because it had none of the downfalls that chakra had; for example, we wouldn't die from chakra exhaustion. Eventually, chakra-users died off, and now all people use magic."

"What does this have to do with Naruto?" Makarov raised his hand to stop Gildarts.

"Let me finish my explanation. The reason why our reserves are much denser than the Eterano in the air is because in a way, we evolved in energy usage; the magic we use have some properties of chakra. We have all the good and none of the bad. Our magic reserves are high because Eterano is light and we can hold tons of it, but we can make it denser as well as more potent, increasing the power of our abilities. If magic didn't have this small trait, chakra would most likely still be in use in small quantities today; however, chakra is about just as dense as magic today." Gildarts stopped the old man for a moment.

"I want to know why you're so surprised. I don't need a history lesson, old man." Makarov sighed, but decided to make it black and white for Gildarts.

"You said that his magic reserves are much denser than yours even though that he is much younger. Also, not only is he able to use **Pure Magic Manipulation, **but he is also able to use **Ancient Runes**. I had my suspicions, but I believe I'm correct. Naruto may be able to use chakra _and _magic like people in the past were able to," Makarov stated.

Gildarts widened his eyes in shock and dropped his jaw. Before he could say anything in response, Naruto flashed onto boat next to Gray, his sage clothing flapping as he landed on his feet. A large sealing scroll was on the blonde's back. However, the most noticeable change on the blonde was the metal forehead protector a strange sign on the middle that looked surprisingly natural on the blonde.

"What's up with the scroll and the headband, Naruto?" Gray asked. Naruto turned over to the ice mage and smiled.

"This is what I found all the way inside the tunnel. Spoils of victory, haha." Gray grinned in return and clapped Naruto in the back before turning over to Makarov.

"Hey, Master! This means that Naruto is now an S-class mage, right?" Makarov nodded with a smile. Gray shouted in happiness for his blonde friend as Naruto chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

While the two boys were busy being cheerful, Makarov and Gildarts returned to their serious expressions as they stared at the blonde, the only one that had passed the S-Class Trials this year. Freed and Evergreen had been disqualified on the second portion of the exams since their opponents that not passed either of them. Makarov stared at Naruto with narrowed eyes, not from distrust, but from slight suspicion. There was no doubt that boy was loyal to his friends and to Fairy Tail. But there was just one thing that bothered the master. It wasn't the blonde's strength or tactical mind.

"_What are you hiding, Naruto?"_

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Five Hours)

"They're back!" One of the guild members shouted as he ran through the doors. Immediately, all of the guild members stood up and turned to the doors, waiting for the mages that went to the island to come through the doors. After nearly thirty seconds of intense waiting, a shadow was seen. Then, the door began to open. All the members leaned forwards, waiting. Natsu, who felt that the door was opening too slowly, charged forwards and jumped up and screamed out one of Naruto's troll techniques whenever the blonde was bored.

"Dynamic Entry!" Natsu's foot caught on fire as he went closer and closer to the door. Then, it opened and…there was Naruto, his face only a few inches away from Natsu's foot.

"Eh?" Both boys said at the same time. Time slowed down for everyone. Natsu's face showed confusion while Naruto's face showed surprise and shock at the foot that was approaching his face.

"_Why do I feel like this is familiar? Oh yea, Gai kicked Ero-sennin one time."_ Naruto thought to himself. Time returned to normal, and then –

"Ack!" Naruto went flying backwards as Natsu kicked the blonde in the face. To the returning guild members outside, it seemed that Naruto just opened the guild door and went flying backwards and crashed into a building wall on the other side of the street.

"Natsu…I'm upping your seals when we train tomorrow," Naruto muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear as he stood on the wall sideways, completely defying gravity. He had flipped quickly in midair, moving with the momentum of the kick. Everyone else just stared in shock as the blonde walked down the wall. However, Natsu, Gray, and Cana were all already used to it since they had seen him train and he had explained what **Pure Magic Manipulation** can do. Hell, he had even shown them that he could walk on water if he released a small amount of energy to his feet. When Natsu heard this, he focused his fire to his feet and found out that he could actually fly if he controlled the propulsion from the flames.

"Please…don't increase my seals. It's already heavy enough!" Natsu whined out as his face paled. The dragonslayer ran over to Naruto and circled the blonde, speaking rapidly, trying to prevent the blonde from increasing the difficulty of the pink-haired dragonslayer's training. Naruto just ignored Natsu and slapped a **Level 8 Gravity Seal** onto the dragonslayer, making Natsu drop the floor face-first with a grunt of indignation. Naruto walked forwards, but he stopped at the entrance of the guild and said -

"Don't you want to be an S-class like me, though?" Naruto turned his head around slightly so that Natsu was able to see a smirk plastered on the blonde's face. Natsu's face, along with all of the guild members that didn't know this fact, widened his eyes in surprise and showed clear shock before smirking and forcing himself off the ground.

"Of course I do! You're not getting away from me!" Natsu declared as he got off his knees and pushed himself into a standing position. Naruto nodded his head and turned back around only to get glomped by a seemingly drunk Cana, the brunette wrapping her arms tightly around the blonde's waist.

"Heeeey, Naruto~! Congratulations~! And what's with the headband and huge, gigantic scroll on top of your butt?" Cana said slowly, slurring out the words. Instead of responding, the blonde was comically choking as his back arched in pain. Cana looked up and stared at Naruto's blue face for a moment before glaring at him. "Heeey, aren't you supposed to say thanks or something? And you didn't answer my question." Naruto moaned out in response, bubbles starting to froth out of his mouth.

"_Why the hell is she adding so much magic into her hug? Holy crap she has a lot of magic reserves!" _Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto directed his chakra to surround his body so that Cana's death hug wasn't too painful. Then the blonde looked down on the slightly shorter girl and grinned at her.

"Thank you, Cana…the headband and scroll is something I found…" Cana grinned and nodded in a drunken manner. Then, Naruto's face seemed to become shadowed and ghastly, copying Captain Yamato's ghost-like appearance when he had wanted to scare Naruto. "…But didn't I say you can't drink?"

Then, the blonde turned his head around to face Natsu, who gulped in fear and began to backpedal away from the blonde.

"And you, Natsu…you just watched her drink, correct?" Natsu didn't respond with any kind of motion. Instead, he began pressing himself harder against the building wall opposite the guild building. Naruto took this as an affirmation and glared at the young dragonslayer.

"When we train again, I'm showing you hell," he said. For a split second, Naruto gave a feral smirk as he let out a small amount of Killing Intent. Many of the guild members backed away from the blonde when they saw him begin to chuckle somewhat madly while a makeshift crimson fox with nine-tails appeared above him, smirking and grinning with malice. Then, as quickly as the illusion appeared, it disappeared when Cana stumbled and pushed Naruto to the wooden floor in the guild hall. When the guild members gave out loud cat calls, including the master and Gildarts, Naruto just sighed in exasperation. He was still somewhat exhausted from the S-Class Trials and was also too lazy to get up. Also, he didn't want to push her off of his body and then pick her up; no, he'll only do that for Erza and Mira since they constantly end up on the floor in their little skirmishes after he simply makes them drop with **Gravity Seals**.

"_Then again, they are starting to get used to the heavier ones since they're constantly exposed to the __**Gravity Seals. **__Maybe I should increase the level next time?"_

While the blonde was pondering, he stayed still and waited for Cana to get off of his body, only to realize a few moments later she had passed out from getting too drunk. Naruto closed his eyes in irritation and he decided to move and picked her up by the waist as he sat up. When he got up with Cana over his shoulder, her face close to his, he mumbled softly to himself.

"Yeah…and you're going to start training with us, too," Naruto said silently to the unconscious brunette who had no idea what was waiting for her the next day.

"Naruto, where are you going?" Makarov asked from the entrance. The blonde turned around to the guild master and pointed at the unconscious girl on his shoulder.

"I'm taking her to the infirmary or at least to one of the rooms inside the guild. She's going to have a massive headache when she wakes up."

"We can't start our party without you. After all, since you are the only person that made S-class this year, you have to be here for the whole party." Naruto stared at the old guild master and turned to see the smiling and somewhat shocked faces of each other mages. Erza and Mira were staring at him with grudging respect for not only being the youngest ever S-class mage of all time, but also being the only person to become S-class in Fairy Tail's trials for the year. Turning further around, Natsu, Gray, Levy and her two bodyguard friends, and all of the older guild members were smiling at the blonde invitingly to party. Making a full circle, Naruto turned around to once again faced the master and said –

"No thanks. I'm not a party person." Then, the blonde disappeared in a flash after he threw a kunai through one of the open doors that lead up to guild rooms. Makarov and many of the members face-faulted on the floor, shaking the guild building.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU NOT PARTY?! WE ARE FAIRY TAIL!" Inside the building, Naruto chuckled when he heard the loud cry of many of his fellow guild members. However, he wasn't lying when he said that he wasn't a person for partying. The most reception he had ever had was after he had defeated Pein, and even that wasn't really a celebration and was short-lived. In the blonde's earlier years, Naruto was always tormented by the civilians of his village and had only celebrated his birthday when he was away from the village with Jiraiya. And sadly in his later years, he was constantly training and fighting against S-class ninjas, and then eventually Madara and Obito Uchiha. No, Naruto truly wasn't a person for partying. Small gatherings and celebrations, he was fine with, but going all out to just party just didn't seem to fit him.

Naruto chuckled again when he heard the tell-tale signs of another one of Fairy Tail's common bar fights breaking out, most likely caused by Natsu. He knew that regardless of whether he was there or not for the party, the guild would celebrate anyways…and eventually get into a fight. Naruto sighed contentedly as he gently placed Cana onto the bed in the room where he had first woken up in when he arrived in this future. The thought that it may be an alternate universe continued to plague the blonde, but Naruto knew there was no way for him to go back to his past.

Naruto moved one of the wooden chairs against the wall next to the bed and sat on it, just staring around the room, outside the window, and eventually at Cana, who was peacefully sleeping on top of the covers and sheets.

"_Baa-chan, Shizune, Anko nee-chan…all of them drank because they had problems to deal with. Tsunade Baa-chan saw her fiancé die in the battlefield and couldn't save him even though she was the world's most renowned medic. Shizune began to drink when Baa-chan was in a coma and again when the war started. Anko nee-chan was tricked by her teacher and took all of the consequences from the villages, taking their hate in stride by becoming the reckless person she was. So Cana, what kinds of problems are you dealing with right now that made you drink? What aren't you telling me?" _Naruto thought to himself before throwing his head back and letting out a small, humorless laugh that did not match the blonde's usual exuberance at all, the laugh containing no mirth and have a small bit of…cynicism? _"Heh, hiding things…that's what I'm doing to this whole guild…just hiding my past, my true abilities, everything. But I still think it's best if I didn't tell anyone…and never have to. If I become strong enough, I'll never have to use my true abilities, and I'll always stay under the radar, like the ninja I actually am." _Naruto brought his head back down to Cana's sleeping figure and stared as she slowly breathed in…and the out…and back in.

"_But if there's one thing I believe I will do no matter what…it is that I will always follow my nindo. I will never break my promises…and I promise to you and all of Fairy Tail that in your times of need, I will be there. I will be your support when you need me most. And if I have to…I will reveal all of my secrets."_

Completely contrary to Naruto's deep thoughts, Cana continued to sleep soundly as the day went on, the sun setting over the mountains and creating a beautiful sunset, the light reflecting against the window and glinting on Naruto's metal forehead protector.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Next Morning)

"Naruto…haa…haa…you're such a slave driver," Cana complained, the thirteen-year old panting on the ground after completing her first set of exercises. Naruto looked over to the girl while doing his handstand pushups…on top of his kunais…with one finger on top of each circular ring.

"I'm sorry…did you say something?" The blonde's words made a chill go down Cana's spine, so the girl wisely shook her head quickly and began her next set.

"Aren't you going a bit too hard on her for her first day?" Gray asked from his spot in the forest clearing, practicing his ice control. Naruto didn't look over, instead just shaking his head.

"We're going to be training like this for a month since you guys are joining me for my S-class missions; they are supposed to be a couple times harder than regular A-class missions. We're not going to run into your average run of the mill mages from now on; no, everything from here on out is serious. So if any of you guys get hurt in the missions, it'll be my fault." Natsu, who was on his set of five-hundred pushups with a **Level 9 Gravity Seal,** breathed out fire from his mouth in his excitement for an S-class mission.

"Hell yeah! S-Class missions! I'm so fired up!" Natsu exclaimed loudly, shouting as he increased the speed of his exercises. Naruto and Gray both chuckled as Cana moaned on the floor, struggling to do her set of one-hundred sit ups.

"Why am I doing physical exercises in the first place? I mean, I get Natsu working on physical exercises because he's a fighter mage, but Gray isn't doing anything physical. So why me?" Cana grunted out as she continued her exercises. Naruto flipped from his position next to Cana and began to do sit-ups next to the girl.

"Gray's magic is extremely versatile; he can be both a long distance and close range fighter with his **Ice Make** magic. However, you are a completely a long distance fighter with your cards. What would happen if someone was able to close the distance and get close enough to you to make the fight into a close range battle?"

"Wouldn't you guys be there to jump in if the happened?" Naruto shook his head, the sweat dripping off of his face from the motion. The blonde could understand her standpoint; during his years of inexperience, he had thought somewhat similarly in a way.

"Cana, we're not always going to be there to back you up. You need to be able to defend yourself when the time requires it." Cana did another sit-up and stopped to respond.

"Then why are we…haa…doing this?" She panted out. Naruto went up and stopped to have a short conversation with the tired girl. She had lasted for an hour, which was impressive since she never actually trained with them and had just started. Also, an hour of the blonde's training regiment without any kind of physical training was impressive.

"Because if you don't, you won't be able to learn or keep up when I begin to teach you the style of fighting I want you to learn. Not only that, but you have to realize that out of the four of us here, you are the most vulnerable if someone gets within close range of you. The rest of us are primarily close to mid distance fighters, but we also have a form of long range attacks. However, you are completely mid to long range with almost nothing close ranged to compensate or round out your skills," the blonde said.

"_Cana wouldn't be able to use the __**Goken **__fighting style, but she'll be able to utilize Hinata's style of __**Jyuuken**__. It doesn't really require her to attack the tenketsu points since I'm mainly teaching her for simple close range fighting and defense. Then again, I don't even know if mages have tenketsu points."_

"Wait, if we're going to be doing this for a month, then what about our missions? How are we going to have enough money to pay for rent and stuff? Also, what about all the requests that are directed towards us since we don't destroy anything?" Gray asked. Naruto looked away from Cana and turned to the ice mage and smirked.

"Don't worry; my clones are taking all of the mission requests that are B-rank or lower sometime about now. Hehehe, oh I'm going to love the reaction of the guild," the blonde said with a snigger.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Fairy Tail's Guild Hall)

"Jiji-san, I'm going on this mission!"

"Hey! Stamp this one already, Jiji-san!"

"Hurry up, Jiji-san! I need to go already! Stamp them all before anyone comes in and sees us!"

"Erza and Mira aren't getting a single mission today! Hell yeah!"

Nearly a hundred Naruto clones crowded the bar counter, each of them with a mission request held in their hands. Makarov's eyebrows twitched in irritation as the blonde's clones made a huge ruckus and stole all of the mission requests from the rest of the guild members. However, the old master didn't say anything, instead silently stamping every request. There were no guild members in the building yet since it was still too early in the morning, so there was not a single complaint. When all of them were stamped, all of the clones began to sprint out of the guild.

"Bye Jiji-san!" Finally, the old man had enough.

"Stop calling me Jiji-san!" All of the clones turned around and stuck their tongues out and smacked their butt before running off again and screaming in unison –

"See you later, Jiji-san!" Makarov's eyebrows began to twitch again before he calmed himself down and took a large drink from his cup of alcohol.

"Cheeky little brats, not giving respect to their elders these day."

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Forest clearing)

"Yeah, it's going to be just fine. My clones should have taken all the missions on the board, so we'll be fine for the month." Gray and Cana just sweatdropped while Natsu grinned happily at the thought of not paying for his rent. The dragonslayer would finally not be in debt!

"Don't your clones disappear after a single hit though?" Gray asked. The ice mage began to lift his hand as water droplets and ice congregated on top of his palm. He was trying to create something similar to Naruto's **Rasengan** but with swirling ice that constantly spun with spikes. When he saw the strength of the **Fire and Wind Style: Rasenshuriken**, Gray was immediately intrigued. For only practicing the new ability for a day, Gray had made some decent progress by already creating a swirling ball of ice with small spikes at the end, but it wasn't even close to Naruto's normal **Rasengan **when comparing damage.

Naruto opened a bottle of water that was previously sealed in his skin and drank from it, taking a few greedy gulps. After drinking almost half of the bottle, he brought it down from his lips and offered it to Cana who took it greedily and finished the rest. Neither cared that it was possibly an indirect kiss; Naruto didn't care since he was too old mentally and had gone through that phase already, and Cana didn't even think about it since she was too tired and thirsty.

"My normal clones would disperse after a single hit," Naruto said. However, Gray felt a 'but' coming in. "However…"

"_Close enough."_ The ice mage thought to himself.

"I placed on seal on each of the clones that make every one of them more durable. Also, every one of them has another seal on them so that if they run into any kind of trouble that is too large for by them, either I or any other clone could join them and help with the situation." Gray dropped his swirling ball of water and ice and breathed out slowly, dropping his concentration. Then, he opened his eyes and turned to Naruto, who was now leaning against a tree under the shade of the forest.

"How will they get back to their missions after they help?" Naruto nodded his head.

"_It's good that Gray is asking these questions; it means he thinks everything through. Is there something I could teach him…oh, that would be good."_

"Each of them has one teleportation kunai so they'll just return to their mission if they drop the kunai before leaving. Anyways, Gray, I want you to try something." Gray raised his eyebrows in interest.

"What's up?"

"Can you make a clone of yourself out of ice?" Naruto asked. Gray looked up at the sky for a moment, thinking to himself. After about half a minute of silence, other than Natsu yelling about S-class missions while doing his sets, Gray looked back down and began to control the humidity in the air to try and create a clone. Naruto and Cana watched in interest as the block of ice began to shape itself in a humanoid figure. Then, the ice began to define itself slowly, becoming more and more like Gray. Naruto clapped his hands; Cana was too tired to move still.

"Good job, Gray." Gray panted from exertion; creating a single clone took a lot more energy than he had expected. The ice mage was currently bent over with his hands on his knees. Gray turned his head and gave the blonde a smile.

"Yeah, I guess I can make it without color, but I don't know how to move it."

"Move the ice in the body. Just control it like a puppet." Gray nodded and focused on the ice clone. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the clone's finger twitched, and then the arm moved jerkily upwards and brought itself up to the neck. After that, the clone disassembled as fell to the floor in multiple blocks of ice.

"That takes a lot more control and concentration than I thought it would," Gray stated, once again panting lightly.

"If you improve your control and concentration, it'll get easier. You might only be able to create one, and they might not have a conscious like mine do, but they'll be as strong and as fast as you can make them." Gray nodded and dropped to the floor, sitting in a cross-legged position. Now, three of the four were relaxing under the shade of a tree, silently relaxing while listening to the sounds of the forest…

"S-class missions! S-class missions! Oh man, I'm so fired up!"

Well…everyone except for Natsu.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: One month)

For a month straight, the group of four had trained constantly, although one of the four would compare it more to torture than to actually training. Natsu had already gotten used to Naruto's intense training regimen and kept up; Gray focused more on his magic reserves and control; Cana was the only person that struggled throughout the whole month. However, Naruto was proud to say that she would be able to defend herself in a hand-to-hand combat against a B-class mage. It helps that Cana was extremely flexible, so Hinata's style of the **Jyuuken** matched quite well. Not only that, but Cana had taken some of Naruto's unpredictability, but it was nowhere near Naruto's or Natsu's levels.

Naruto sniggered to himself when he remembered how the guild reacted to his stealing all of the missions. All of the guild members had freaked out according to one of Naruto's clones. Erza and Mira screamed bloody murder and had searched the whole town for the blonde but only found random clones that exploded in their faces with paint after they dispersed. Of course, this only fueled the two girls even more with anger. By the end of the day, they were covered in paint of all colors. Erza had gone through all of her armors but she ended the day with less paint on her body than Mira, who was covered from head to toe with all of the colors of the rainbow.

After that day, there were always at least two people in the guild in the morning to make sure that Naruto didn't hog all of the missions. Erza and Mira took missions together, which was extremely strange, but the main reason why was so that they could look for the blonde together after each mission and pummel the blonde together. Sadly for them, they always got pranked by clones instead.

Naruto opened the doors to the guild and immediately saw Levy and her two partners sitting at a table near the mission board, clearly exhausted and drowsy. Naruto walked down the guild and smiled at her as he passed by the younger girl.

"Good morning, Levy-chan!" The blonde said cheerfully. Levy just moaned and dropped her head to the table and pretended to snore.

"I'm so tired. This is all your fault, Naruto…" The blue-haired girl said in a tired tone. Naruto chuckled and walked up the stairs to the second floor that held all of the S-class missions. When the blonde had walked up the steps, he saw Laxus sitting on a couch, silently listening to his headphones. The two made eye-contact, but neither said a word. Then, both of them grunted as they turned away from each other. Naruto knew how people like Laxus ticked; wasn't he best friends with a certain Uchiha named Sasuke who had a stick up his ass ten feet deep?

Naruto stared at the board for a few minutes, staring at every request and going though all of the information. Finding a mission that he found interesting and possible for his current team, Naruto removed the tick and grabbed the request before jumping off the second floor and landing in front of the bar counter.

"I'll take this mission, Jiji-san." Makarov grunted as he took a drink from his cup of beer and stared at the mission request before stamping it. Before Naruto turned around, Makarov put down his beer and looked up at the blonde and said –

"Are you sure your team is ready to deal with a Dark Guild?" Naruto smirked and gave the old master a thumbs-up.

"I know what my team can handle, don't worry." Then, the blonde turned around and walked out of the building to join up with his team. Makarov stared as the blonde left. Then, the old man sighed; he knew Naruto and his team would be fine, but he just had a feeling of worry. Before he was a guild master, he was a parent for all of the children in the guild.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Two hours)

"Okay, before we begin our mission, understand that we cannot make any mistakes." The four were sitting on their knees, staring at the somewhat large building in the middle of the clearing. The color and figure of the building literally screamed out 'I'm a dark guild!'

"_Seriously, why the hell would a dark guild choose the middle of a clearing for their base? Probably the worst decision they could've made; they made this mission a couple times easier. There are no civilians to get in the way."_

"This guild has around forty mages, but the majority is cannon fodder; most of them are only C-class or B-class mages. There are only two A-ranked mages inside that building; leave them to me, understood?" Naruto said in an authoritative tone. Normally, Natsu would've complained and would have asked to fight at least one of the A-class mages, but when Naruto went into serious mode, none of the three wanted to question the blonde. When none of them questioned the blonde, Naruto nodded his head and said –

"Commence the mission. Only rule: do not kill." Naruto stated before jumping from his position and crashing through the door of the dark guild's building. Immediately, angry shouts filled the air as Naruto ran through the majority of the dark mages with ease, leaving them for Natsu, Gray, and Cana. When a few mages circled around the blonde and jumped at him as one, Naruto jumped high into the air as water, lightning, and wind began to spin around his hand.

"**Storm Style: Kami's Fist!" **A huge explosion rocked the building as all of the seven incoming mages flew backwards and crashed into the guild walls, creating a huge amount of dust and smoke. Naruto dropped to the floor, an apathetic look on his face as another dark mage jumped at him with his fist extended.

"_Kami, even with my __**Gravity **__and __**Resistance Seals,**__ these mages are so slow." _Naruto noted to himself. Naruto ducked under the punch and simply extended his hand so that his palm hit the flying dark mage on the chest with lighting, water, and wind swirling around the blonde's hand. The dark mage screamed in agony as the wind tore and cut through the man, creating long and deep lacerations. The lightning and water electrocuted the man even more than lightning would do by itself. When the man dropped to the ground, Naruto kicked the man away, the now flying man crashing into one of the dark mages that was charging at Cana, the two flying out of the guild by smashing through the guild wall.

"Are you kidding? These kids are the ones raising hell in our guild?" Naruto turned his head to the noise and immediately increased the level of chakra in his hands, but he wasn't able to see who was talking through the smoke. Black lightning began to spark out from his hands in random arcs, cackling wildly. The water swirling around his hands started fizzing when it came in contact with the lightning, while the wind cooled the water down to almost freezing temperatures and created a coating around the blonde's arm and fist.

"Hmm…but this one with the strange headband and clothing seems to have an interesting ability. Let's see how strong he is." The other A-class mage said. Naruto could now see the two older mages. They were around six feet and both were dressed in black with gothic style clothing. Naruto stared at the two with a practiced gaze and turned his head slightly to communicate with his team while keeping his eyes on the two A-class mages.

"Natsu, Gray, Cana. Get out of the building now," Naruto ordered, his voice clearly audible over the sounds of fighting. Natsu and Gray both saluted cheekily as they both dodged a punch and kick from a dark mage, respectively. Then, both of them grabbed onto the overextended appendage and spun around before throwing the dark mage through the guild wall and outside of the building.

"See you later, Naruto!" Natsu said as he charged out of the building, grabbing onto two other dark mages as he flew out. Gray captured as many dark mages as he could with his ice before jumping out of the building after the pink-haired dragonslayer.

Cana took a bit longer since she was new to close ranged battle and was dealing with two B-ranked mages at the same time. When one of them reached forwards with their fist at her head, Cana leaned back all the way to the floor in a show of ridiculous flexibility, the punch clearly missing. When the other dark mage tried to use a spinning kick on the floor, Cana jumped over the sweeping kick by pushing off of her legs and landing on her hands. Then, using Naruto's unpredictability, she spun her legs while twisting her body, kicking the two mages in the face multiple times as she performed a helicopter kick.

After Cana had taken care of her now two unconscious opponents, Cana turned around and gave Naruto a thumbs-up and a smile before jumping out of the building. Naruto sighed; the three other members in his group were too relaxed about this mission. Then, Naruto returned all of his focus to the two mages before him. They were staring at Naruto with raised eyebrows.

"You the leader of your little team, kid?" Naruto ignored the name the older of the two mages gave him and just stared at the dark mages. The dark mage that asked the question grunted when Naruto remained silent.

"Whatever, we're not like those idiots that got beaten that easily. We'll take care of you without even trying." The other mage said in a completely arrogant manner, something that Naruto would take advantage of. Underestimation was a dangerous thing to have against a dangerous opponent. Once again, however, Naruto remained silent and continued to stare. The dark mages, started to get annoyed at the silent blonde, began to try to rile him up.

"Hey, little kid, listen to your betters! Fine, this should work. After we beat you up, we'll take care of your little friends. They seem pretty strong; they'll do well for us in the slave trade. The girl in your group is a real cutie; she'll be great a _different business_for real women. She'll be perfect in a few years," The younger of the two dark mages said with a dirty sneer. Naruto's eyebrows twitched as he dropped his head slightly. He had heard enough of the mage's stupid banter.

"_It's funny. I've heard that threat so many times when I was a ninja. And ninjas are supposed to be professional and not have emotions during their missions but…every time I heard one of my precious people threatened like that…I want to kill them. You two are lucky that Earthand doesn't believe in killing; I've killed for a lot less." _

However, either way, the two had finally gotten the blonde to talk, but it wasn't what they were expecting from the somewhat short blonde.

"All of your kind is the same…" Naruto growled out, his face shadowed by his bangs and his killing intent starting to leak out heavily from his body, his chakra levels increasing until they were Jonin level. When Naruto looked up, his eyes were golden with a strange horizontal bar in the middle with an orange pigment surrounding the eyes. The blonde glared at the two with such a hateful expression that the two dark mages flinched for a moment; the rising killing intent was definitely not helping their case. Naruto began to raise his hands as his chakra levels increased again to Kage levels, making the two dark mages start to shiver.

"_Amateurs, letting me build up my attack. They shouldn't even be A-Class mages." _

"…threatening me with the same kind of thing every time…but you two…" Naruto said slowly as his voice became more and more dark and as lightning, wind, and water began to swirl around his body in a violent torrential whirlwind. "…you two aren't leaving until every single…bone…in your body…is…broken. **Storm Style: Heaven's Wrath!" **Naruto said calmly as he released one half of his reserves. Then, the blonde's raised hand, as if to cast judgment…was brought down for the execution.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Outside the Dark Guild Building)

"What the hell is that?" Gray exclaimed. The three teens were looking up at the sky as it darkened and rain began to fall.

"There's a storm coming," Natsu said when he felt electricity building up in the air, but what was strange was that the storm clouds had only covered on top of the building. Suddenly, the three teens jumped away just in time and lifted their hands to block their faces from the sudden explosion and crash that impacted against the building. When they looked up again, they were shocked at the sight before them. A wild twister was surrounding the building as it closed in on the guild building, and the three were right outside of the barrier. The, lightning and water began to mix with the wind until it became a beautiful and terrifying weapon of destruction. Finally, the combined elements crashed down on the building, creating another heavy explosion that sent the three teens reeling backwards. Gray quickly created an ice wall in front and behind them to prevent any more involuntary movement.

"We can all agree that Naruto is pissed, right?" Cana asked sarcastically. Natsu and Gray both nodded their heads seriously. The blonde had never used any of his more destructive attacks, instead always using seals or defeating his opponents by being better at hand-to-hand combat. Even for an S-class mission, and against two A-class mages, if Naruto had used one of his stronger attacks, then the blonde was royally pissed…and a pissed Naruto was never a good thing for his opponents.

When the storm had calmed down and disappeared, Gray dropped the walls and immediately dropped his jaws from the damage along with his two partners next to him. The guild building was completely obliterated, it former structure utterly demolished. Large pieces of wood and metal were strewn about the battlefield, if that was what it could be defined as now, since the area where Naruto's attack had landed had created a charred black area that was steaming and was on fire. Many of the dark mages that were in the area were steaming and knocked out, twitching randomly.

"That's so cool! I want to do that! Naruto, teach me!" Natsu said energetically. The blonde was seen walking towards his three teammates with two sagging objects on each of his hands. When he got closer, Gray, Cana, and Natsu saw what it was. It was the two A-class mages, and it seemed that they had seen better days…much better days.

When Naruto was right in front of the three, he smiled and passed by them, indicating for them to follow. Natsu jumped at the order and went right next to Naruto with an eager expression on his face. The blonde just laughed and smiled at the energetic dragonslayer despite the serious situation they were in just a few minutes before.

"Haha Natsu. I don't know if I can teach you the exact same move, but can't you make something similar to what I did with your dragonslayer magic?" Natsu dropped his smile for a second as he took on a thoughtful expression before a mega-watt smile replaced the pondering look.

"Hell yeah! And when I make it, it'll be a hundred times better than what you did!" Natsu declared with confidence. Naruto just laughed and continued to walk down the forest path. The Rune Knights would find them eventually; Naruto's final attack was large enough and flashy enough to gather the attention of whoever was able to see it from miles around. But for now, the blonde would enjoy himself as he dragged the two mages through the forest, the two dark mages moaning as their souls seemed to come out of their mouths.

"Did you have to be that harsh on them?" Cana asked softly, staring the two mages closely with interest. Naruto looked over at the girl before turning forwards again, a false sheepish expression on his face.

"Sorry, my bad. I didn't mean to," Naruto said, completely lying through his teeth. The three other members of the team sweatdropped, even Natsu, as they deadpanned at the blonde.

"_You're not sorry at all," _they thought in unison.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Thirty minutes)

"You've got to be kidding. You're just a little kid. Go back home or to your guild. There's no way you took care of that dark guild," one of the Rune Knights said haughtily. The team of four was started to get irritated; Natsu had already lit his hands on fire, although Naruto had stopped the volatile dragonslayer from starting a fight that could possibly result in their punishment.

"I'm telling you all that you need to know. We did our mission and we expect payment," Naruto said calmly, although there was an underlying threat in his voice.

"And I'm telling you to go home, kid. There's no way you defeated a dark guild at your age," the same Rune Knight answered. There were about twenty Rune Knights in the forest clearing, all of them just wanting to take the dark mages to the prison before they became conscious, although the blonde stated that every single one of their bones were broken, alleviating their fears that the mages would run away. However, none of them believed that the four children had defeated a dark guild with forty members, especially since it had two A-class mages.

"What are all of you maggots doing?" Someone asked with an authoritative tone. All of the Rune Knights straightened their backs as they turned to the voice, only to find their commander glaring at each and every one of them. He was a tall man adorned in heavy armor with a sword strapped to his waist. Other than that, it was the average Rune Knight…except for the aura of authority surrounding the man.

"Well, are any of you maggots going to answer?" Naruto smirked. He liked this guy, not to mention that he kind of reminded him of Ibiki.

"Ah…sir. We were trying to take the two dark mages from his young mage here, but he insists that he and his team took care of the dark guild," the Rune Knight that had been arguing with the blonde said with a subservient tone. Naruto and Natsu held in a snicker, but Cana was freely letting it out, irritating the specific Rune Knight. The commander of group of knights turned to stare at Naruto and gave the young blonde a once over before speaking.

"What is your name, young lad?" He asked. However, Naruto felt that it was more of a demand than a question, so he responded immediately.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, sir," the blonde stated with the proper respect; there were times for familiarity. This was not one of those times.

The name seem to have an effect on the commander as his face relaxed slightly and his eyebrows raised in a small amount of surprise.

"Oh, so you're the hot-shot mage that everyone is talking about; the youngest mage ever to reach S-class," the commander stated. This shocked every single one of the Rune Knights, especially the Rune Knight that had been adamant against accepting that Naruto and his gang had taken care of the dark guild. Naruto, in response, simply nodded curtly.

"Yes, I am, sir." The commander nodded slowly as he hummed to himself. Then, he focused back on the blonde.

"Do you mind telling me what kind of magic you used? I have never seen that kind of magic before and it would be easier to write down the details accurately if I had all of the facts." Again, Naruto felt that this was not really a question but more of an order. So, the blonde decided to answer truthfully.

"It's my **Storm **magic, sir. It's a combination of lightning, wind, and water." Again, the commander nodded slowly to himself. Suddenly, as if making up his mind, the commander turned to the Rune Knight next to Naruto and pointed at him.

"You will take the two dark mages from this young lad here," the commander stated. The Rune Knight nodded with a smirk and turned to Naruto, but the blonde was smirking as well; he felt that the commander wasn't finished yet. The commander turned to Naruto and continued. "And as you for and your team, you will receive your proper reward at the end of this week; we will send it to Fairy Tail." Naruto's whole team smirked when they heard this and nodded their heads, completely agreeing with the judgment of the commander.

"Thank you. We will take our leave now with your consent," Naruto said calmly as he dropped the two broken mages to the floor unceremoniously, making the two mages moan in agony and pain. The commander nodded in return, and the team of four past the commander and the rest of the Rune Knights as they walked down the forest path until they disappeared from view. The commander watched the young blonde with the headband walk away in interest as he began to rub his chin in deep thought.

"**Storm** magic…now that's something I have never heard of. Hmm…perhaps I should write his moniker as **Storm** in my report. **Arashi** (Storm)…that has a good ring to it," the commander said to himself quietly before turning to his Rune Knights with a serious expression again.

"What are you doing, you maggots? Let's get the hell out of here and return to base!"

**End Chapter.**

**A/N: Well…actually, I'm not even sure why I'm doing an author's note at the end. I'm just doing this because I got used to it, haha.**

**Fairy tail dragon slayer...I don't even. What the hell...21 chapters? That guy just pumps out chapters like no tomorrow. Seriously...how much time does that guy have?**

**Please leave nice and long reviews…and criticisms, too! No flames, please. Dark embers suck. **


	8. Chapter 7: Fish and Unwanted Attention

**Chapter 7: Capturing Fish and Unwanted Attention**

**A/N: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I love all of you guys! Haha, I'm drunk on happiness as I see all the reviews and stats. **

**I am ignorant…like super ignorant. I'm going to completely reread Fairy Tail 'cuz I screwed up so hard on some details. Mystogan became S-class in X782…so I need to change Chapter 5 slightly (or the 6****th**** update). **

**Happy did not appear yet simply because I made it so that he was with Lisanna the majority of the time that Naruto joined the guild. Naruto doesn't want Happy to go on S-class missions with them, and on a majority of their missions, Happy was either sleeping or with Lisanna playing around at the guild.**

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS FILLER! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**Information on the story: Although Gray and Natsu are considered an even match, in a battle of attrition, Natsu would most likely win since he's more physically fit. Although Gray has more control over his magic, he's just strong enough, something he would fix later on. Cana, although not strong in close range, is a well-rounded mage that can handle herself in almost any situation now.**

**Happy Valentine's Day! Well…depending on where you guys live. Might be a bit early for you guys…like it is for me.**

**Chapter 7 START**

_I like fish! – Happy_

**XShuyaX**

"Hi, I'm Happy! I'm a part of Natsu's and Lisanna's family and I'm also a part of this great guild called Fairy Tail! I just had my first birthday party and now I'm just a little older than a year old. The members of the guild are really nice to me, but there's this one blonde guy that never lets me go on S- class missions with Natsu and his friends. Apparently, he's the team leader and says that it's too dangerous, even though that Natsu is stronger than him. He's so mean to me."

"Why are you talking like I'm not here, Happy? And who are you talking to?" The blue Exceed turned and glared at the blonde who was currently eating his disgusting bowl of spaghetti splashed in soup. He called it ramen and said it was the food of the gods, but Happy clearly disagreed, always stating that fish was better. Happy jumped at the blonde and began to claw at the blonde's face…except Happy didn't have any claws or nails.

"Why are you so mean to me, Naruto?" Happy whined with tears comically flying at out his eyes. Naruto stayed silent, content to continue eating his bowl of ramen in a pseudo-peace; Happy swiping at his face didn't count as an annoyance since he barely felt anything.

"Shouldn't you be with Natsu or Lisanna? What are you doing at the guild without them?" Naruto asked once he finished his bowl of ramen. The blue Exceed had gotten tired and was now taking refuge on Naruto's hair, playfully pulling on some of the spikes. Although the Exceed was almost always with Natsu, Happy preferred to be with Lisanna whenever the group of four trained in the forest; she always gave him delicious fishes. Throughout the year that the blonde had joined Fairy Tail, Naruto and Happy had gotten into a comical relationship in a way since the two playfully argued over their favorite food. Strangely, the blonde was not in any way disturbed by the fact that a cat-looking animal could talk, which the rest of the guild members freaked out about; it seemed as if nothing could ever faze the blonde, despite the fact that there was a _talking_ cat.

"Natsu went on a mission with Gray and Cana, and Lisanna is with her siblings on another mission also." Naruto nodded his head swiveled in his chair so that his back was to the bar counter so that he could lean against it.

"So why aren't you with either of them? That doesn't answer my question," Naruto said calmly. Happy continued to play with Naruto's hair and bit on one of the spikes.

"I like fish. Do you have any fish?" the blue Exceed stated and asked randomly. The blonde just sighed in response; he knew that he wasn't getting a response and tapped a seal on his arm. A small cloud of smoke appeared, but Happy leaned into the smoke with stars in his eyes, already knowing what was waiting for him. When the smoke had cleared, on the bar counter was a small plate with perfectly cut sushi and sashimi. Happy quickly jumped off of Naruto's head with eagerness and began to eat the small meal with gusto.

"Yum! I like fish," Happy stated happily as he bit into another piece of sashimi, now eating a piece of blue tuna. Naruto turned around to watch the Exceed eat the small meal, content to watch the cat-like being continue to eat.

"_I wonder what I should do today…I don't really want to train today. Natsu, Gray, and Cana are probably on another B-class mission. They might be A-class material, but they're still green. I wonder if I could make them S-class mages by the end of next year." _Naruto pondered to himself. The blonde was broken out of his musing when Happy sighed contentedly after finishing the meal of fish.

"I wish you gave me fish more often. I wouldn't call you mean, then," Happy stated with a smile as he jumped back onto Naruto head.

"_I have around ten more seals that contain sushi just because of you, but I'll stay silent on that."_

"What do you want to do today, Happy?" Naruto asked casually as he turned around again in his chair so that he was facing the guild. The majority of its members were drinking, playing, or fighting. Some of the mages were gone on a mission, but the ones at the guild were going through their normal routine. Happy raised a paw to his chin before his eyes lighted up.

"Let's go fishing!" The Exceed said excitedly. Naruto fought the urge to facepalm but he got up anyways.

"Fine, fine, whatever. I need to stop by Natsu's house to pick up his fishing poles before we go to the creek." Naruto walked out of the guild building and started walking towards Natsu's house on the streets of Magnolia.

"So, Naruto, when's your birthday?"

"October tenth. You ask this every time, you know that right?"

"Aye, sir!" Happy said as he saluted, straightening his back. Naruto chuckled and continued to stroll at a leisurely pace, relaxing and content to feel the cool air of winter, although spring was quickly approaching. The trees were beginning to grow leaves again.

"Springtime of youth, huh?" Naruto muttered softly to himself, reminiscing about a certain "green beast of Konoha". Naruto had never learned how to open any of the Celestial Gates, but he had Kurama's chakra, which was basically a chakra steroid by itself.

"_If I ever use any kind of __**Kyuubi Chakra Mode **__or __**Bijuu Mode**__, it will never last as long as working with Kurama and won't be as powerful; Kurama was gathering chakra while I was in form and we were sharing out chakra at the same time, which was a mix between multiple Kage level chakra and nearly godlike chakra levels, unlike now where I have a limiter on my chakra since it's only Kurama's chakra and a little of mine, even with about double Kage level. Kurama said that I would have complete access to his chakra, but it's still only a fraction of what he really had; before he left the cage, there was only as much chakra as I could handle when I was eighteen. If I had a few more years, maybe I would've been able to handle most of Kurama's chakra, but not back then. But if I can gather Eterano in the air and convert it to purified chakra at an accelerated rate, maybe I'll be able to hold onto the form and increase its strength. Hmm…either way, I doubt there are people that can push me to use __**Complete Bijuu Mode**__ unless there are some crazy people out there as strong as Madara or Hashirama. Those two were ridiculous." _Naruto was broken out of his musings when Happy pulled on Naruto's hair slightly harder than normal.

"We're here, Naruto." The blonde lost his unfocused gaze and regained his bearings for a moment. Realizing he was indeed in front of Natsu's house in the forest, Naruto walked up to the door and opened it.

"Why does he never clean up…we came to his house multiple times to help him clean and he always messes it up in a matter of days," Naruto said as he stared at the mess on the floor. There were clothes, pillows, towels, books, and other normal objects on the floor. Pictures were haphazardly placed on the wall, something that Naruto and the gang had fixed when they had gone to Natsu's house.

"I helped him," Happy said proudly. Naruto's glanced upwards from the messy living room and stared at the cat-like Exceed with a deadpan.

"You help him mess the house on purpose?" The blonde asked disbelievingly. The Exceed kept a straight face as he responded with the upmost seriousness.

"Aye, sir!" Happy again saluted when he responded. This time, Naruto's urges won and the blonde facepalmed as he walked into the house.

"I really hope he doesn't do this on purpose," Naruto said as he stepped over misplaced clothing and books. Naruto turned his head left, and then right to find where Natsu had placed his fishing poles. "Fishing poles…where does Natsu put the fishing poles, Happy?" The Exceed, however, did not respond. Naruto glanced up at the Exceed that was resting on his hair and saw Happy staring up at something. Intrigued, Naruto looked up at the ceiling and found the fishing poles somehow hanging up on the ceiling.

"Okay…how did he manage to get them up there in the first place?" Naruto asked, deadpanning.

"I flew up there and put it there. Natsu told me to," Happy said. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed.

"Can you get them, Happy? We need to go fishing since you wanted to go." Happy jumped off of Naruto's head as wings appeared on the back of the Exceed. Then, Happy flew upwards and grabbed onto one of the fishing poles and dropped it to Naruto. The blonde caught it with ease and began to walk out of the house, picking up books and placing them on a shelf on his way out.

"Yay! Fishing means food, and fish food is great!" Happy said childishly when he landed on Naruto's head. Naruto laughed at the basic reasoning of the Exceed as he closed the door to Natsu and Happy's house and began to walk towards the creek in the forest.

"That's nice, Happy. Hey, you need to clean the house and take care of Natsu, okay?" Happy took on a thoughtful expression.

"How am I supposed to take care of Natsu if he takes care of me and is older than me?" Naruto smiled when Happy asked this. Although Naruto was young in the Elemental Nations, he was definitely the strongest ninja of the entire shinobi forces and had taken the burden of placing all of their hopes on his shoulder.

"It doesn't matter how old you are, it just matters if you help and want to take care of him. It's a mutual thing, Happy," Naruto said in a strangely sage-like voice. Happy widened his eyes from this revelation before the Exceed grinned widely.

"Okay! If Natsu asks me to tell Erza she is fat, I'll tell her that!" Naruto cracked up as he lifted his head and laughed without reserve.

"_Oh man, the thought of someone telling Erza she's fat, especially since she constantly eats strawberry cake…yea, that will be a great day."_ The blonde thought to himself with a happy feeling in his chest. If Natsu ever got caught by Erza… he'd be royally screwed, even if he had gotten much stronger in the past year. An angered woman is dangerous, no matter how powerful a person was.

After a few more minutes of ambling through the forest, the two reached the creek. There was a small wooden pier which was where Naruto walked up to and sat at the edge of, his legs dangling over the edge. Happy dropped from his comfortable spot on Naruto's head and sat next to the blonde. The **Storm** of Fairy Tail gripped the fishing pole and winded up before making a whipping motion with his wrist, the fishing line going into the creek. Suddenly, Happy pointed at a random location inside of the creek as the Exceed stood up on his short legs.

"Move the hook over there! There's a fish over there!" When Naruto remained still, Happy jumped onto the blonde's lap and began to pull on the arm of the blonde. When Naruto's arm didn't budge, the Exceed increased his efforts, his eyes closing from the exertion. "Puuuull it overrrr!"

"Oh, I caught something," Naruto said suddenly. Happy stopped pulling on the blonde's arm and turned his head to the creek.

"Where? Where's the fish?" The blonde let go of the fishing pole and gave it to Happy, who took it without looking up at the blonde. As soon as the pole was in Happy's hands, the Exceed began to pull as hard as he could, struggling against the fish's strength. Happy began to completely lean backwards, standing diagonally as he continued his struggle against the fish.

"Come on, Happy!" Naruto said encouragingly, the blonde's chin resting on his hand. After a few more moments, Happy started to lose steam and began to lose against the fish. Naruto calmly took the fishing pole from Happy's grip and pulled, and with one smooth motion, the fish flew out of the water. Before the fish landed in Naruto's hands, the blonde pulled out a kunai and added wind chakra to it, creating an extremely sharp edge. Then, in a show of extreme dexterity with the weapon, Naruto cut the fish into multiple pieces and caught all of the falling slices onto a plate that he took out from one of his seals.

"Fish!" Happy said…happily. Naruto placed the plate on the wooden pier and Happy immediately jumped on the food. While the Exceed was eating, Naruto put the fishing pole to his side and stood up.

"Happy, are there any fishes that fly out of the water around here?"

"Mmhmm," Happy mumbled through a full mouth. The Exceed pointed somewhere further down the creek and said something else that sounded like 'one mile down.' Naruto nodded his head.

"Hey Happy, want to see something cool?" The blue Exceed took a moment to finish his last piece of sushi before nodding his head. Naruto picked up Happy and threw his tri-ponged kunai, standing still for a few seconds before disappearing in an orange flash, a single fishing pole left on the wooden pier to indicate that someone was there.

"Perfect," Naruto said as soon as he took a glance at the creek and the fish jumping out of the water.

"What are you going to show me?" Naruto grinned as he pulled out eight kunais from his seals, one between each finger. Suddenly, the blonde exploded into action, throwing each of the bladed knives with such strength and speed that it seemed as if his arms were a blur.

**Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk**

The eight kunais landed on different tree trunks, but every single one of them had a fish thrashing about, pierced through with a kunai. Naruto looked down at the Exceed who had a surprised expression on his face.

"Cool, right?" Naruto said, smirking lightly. Happy nodded his head slowly before flying over to the kunais on the other side of the creek and pulling on them to grab onto the fish, but the knives were too deeply entrenched into the trunks of the trees to pull out. "I'm coming, I'm coming," Naruto said when Happy turned around. The blonde walked down the bank and when he reached the water…simply began to walk over the water to the opposite end of the creek. A few minutes later, Naruto and Happy were back at Natsu's house with all of their gathered fish, but Naruto didn't trust Natsu with the food.

"Whenever you want sushi, just ask me, okay?" Naruto said. Happy nodded quickly before flying up to Naruto's head.

"Okay! Now let's go back to the guild!" Happy said cheerfully. Naruto nodded, his eyes closed and his lips curled upwards in a small smile. Then, the two flashed out of view.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Fairy Tail Guild Hall)

When Naruto opened the doors to the guild, the first thing he heard was Makarov crying. The first thing he saw was Natsu, Cana, and Gray in front of the Master with a sheepish expression of each of their faces as Makarov sported a geyser, a puddle forming beneath the small elder. The blonde quickly walked over to the bar counter with raised eyebrows from confusion. When Naruto was halfway to the bar counter, Makarov noticed him and began to speak.

"Why? The first mission that you don't go with them, they cause even more destruction than before you became the team leader!" Makarov stated loudly. Naruto widened his eyes before laughing uproariously, tilting his head back up to the ceiling as the blonde's body shook from laughing. All of the guild members turned to Naruto as he began to calm down, still chuckling a little.

"It seems that no matter what, Fairy Tail mages will be Fairy Tail mages. After all, it seems that property damage is one of our specialties…right, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!" Naruto nodded his head, Happy copying the blonde's motion.

"Ahh…such smart one year olds."

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Naruto's Apartment)

Inside one of Magnolia's nicer and well-to-do apartment complexes, a certain blonde was sitting inside his room. It was a clean, white-washed room with a plain bed, a wooden desk that rested against the wall right below the square window, and a closet on the opposite end of the room of the bed with a shelf full of books and a sparse number of clothes.

Naruto was sitting on top of his clean desk and leaning against the wall right underneath the window, flipping through a diary of his younger brother. Well, he didn't have a younger brother, but he considered Konohamaru his little brother. Currently, the blonde was reading through the "Honorable Grandson's" diary. As the blonde continued to read, a feeling of nostalgia spread through his chest.

"_I met this ninja named Naruto who I thought was a jerk at first, but he taught me a jutsu that beat Ebisu-sensei in a single move!"_

Naruto chuckled to himself, clearly remembering the day. It was during his early Genin years, during his years of innocence and inexperience…the day when Naruto had first met Konohamaru and had taught the young boy his Harem Jutsu transformation.

The blonde closed his book and put it on a shelf next to a few nondescript novels when he heard a knock at the front door. Sighing as he got up from his comfortable chair, Naruto walked out of his room and into the living room, and then opened his front door.

"What is it, you three…or four?" Gray, Cana, Natsu, and Happy were in front of his apartment room in the hallway of the second floor. Gray and Natsu were dressed in their normal clothing, but Cana was dressed a bit nicer than usual, wearing a V-neck shirt and skinny jeans that completely complimented her body curves, despite how small she was. She was also carrying a purse-like beige shoulder bag. Naruto gave her change in clothing a small glance before refocusing on all four of them.

"Makarov told us to tell you that you had to go on the mission with us because of what happened last time," Gray said bluntly. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed as he opened his door wider, motioning the four to come in.

"Get comfortable. I'm going to cook breakfast and change. Hope you guys don't eat too much, especially you, Natsu." The dragonslayer just laughed in response and patted Naruto's back before exploring inside Naruto's neat and somewhat large apartment with Happy in tow. No one had ever gone into the blonde's apartment other than Naruto himself, so this was a first for his three teammates.

"You keep your place surprisingly clean. There aren't any clothes on the floor from stripping randomly," Cana pointed out as she took off her sandals at the front door. Gray grumbled, knowing that small, playful barb was for him. "By the way, nice view," Cana complimented, pointing out the screen door that led to a terrace that gave a view of the entire town.

"Woah, there's so many books here!" Natsu said inside Naruto's room. Cana turned to Naruto with a somewhat perplexed look on her face.

"What?" Naruto asked, easily noticing it even though he wasn't facing her. She remained silent before speaking.

"Nothing. It's just I didn't expect you to read books. You don't seem the type to sit down and just read. In fact, how do you read if you train so often?" Before Naruto could respond, Natsu rushed out of Naruto's room in excitement.

"Hey, check me out!" Natsu said. The three other mages turned with different results. Naruto glared with some irritation at Natsu, but Gray and Cana actually thought Natsu looked pretty good, not that the ice mage would ever say it out loud. The dragonslayer was wearing Naruto's sage clothing since the blonde was in a pair of jeans and a white shirt with a red spiral on the back of the shirt and the right sleeve.

"That doesn't look bad, Natsu…but Naruto looks better in it then you do, especially with his headband. Gives him a certain vibe," Cana said as she glanced at the clothing. Natsu nodded his head quickly and turned around to go back to Naruto's room.

"Okay! Let me get the headband then!" However, right when Natsu was about to go back into the blonde's room, the door suddenly closed in front of the dragonslayer.

"No touching the forehead protector," Naruto said simply when Natsu turned around with a pout. The blonde sighed and pointed at a circular table in the living room, signaling for the four to sit and wait. "I'm going to cook some breakfast, so just get comfortable. Give me about fifteen minutes." Then, Naruto turned around and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Can I have fish?" Happy asked from his spot on the table, standing in the middle.

"Sure, but I'm going to give it to you at the same time I give the others their breakfast," Naruto said from the kitchen as he took out a pan from the pantry.

"Yay, fish!" Happy said cheerfully as he sat back down on top of the table.

"Naruto, do you need me to make a fire?" Natsu asked from the table. The sounds of light sizzling became audible to the three at the table who were just leaning back on their chairs and relaxing.

"No thanks; I don't need a kitchen fire." Naruto responded.

"Aw, come on. I'm not that bad, am I?"

"…" There was no response to Naruto's question, although Cana and Gray pretty much summed it up with their deadpan stares.

"Are you serious?" Natsu asked incredulously. Cana and Gray just sweatdropped and nodded their heads.

"Natsu is a professional at property damage," Happy stated randomly. Natsu glared lightly at the Exceed before turning to the kitchen. "Naruto, I'm not that bad, am I?" The dragonslayer asked in a somewhat childish tone. Again, silence was the response, although the sizzling did get slightly louder.

"I think that's a yes, hot shot," Gray said. Natsu immediately shot a glare at Gray with a tic mark on his forehead.

"What did you say, ice for brains?" Gray's face immediately scrunched up as he leaned forwards.

"You want to fight, huh?" Natsu took the challenge and leaned over the table, Gray copying the movement.

"Is that a challenge?" Natsu asked when the two had butted heads. Cana, who was right in the middle of them, was mentally bidding to herself which boy would be stronger.

"No fighting in my place unless you want to pay for the damages," Naruto said from the kitchen. This caused Natsu to immediately back down with a sheepish chuckle as the dragonslayer sat back again in his seat. Gray smirked in slightly victory; he could most likely pay for the repairs unlike Natsu.

For the next ten minutes as Naruto cooked, his guests continued to banter lightly as they talked about random subjects. Suddenly, Cana pulled out a magazine from her bag and placed it on the table dramatically.

"What do you want us to see from Sorceror's Magazine?" Gray asked.

"Maybe she wants to show me that I'm finally becoming popular!" Natsu said with confidence, crossing his arms and closing his eyes as he nodded his head sagely.

"I doubt that," Happy said with a straight face. Natsu shot open his eyes and glared at his family member.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be agreeing with me?" Happy didn't respond, just staring straight with a apathetic expression on his face. Suddenly, the Exceed said –

"Erza is fat." Natsu, Gray, and Cana were taken aback by the randomness and the absurdity of the statement before laughing. Naruto, who had just finished cooking breakfast, heard what Happy said and chuckled lightly.

"_But if he ever said that around Erza, I'm pretty sure she would beat up Natsu for 'corrupting a child'." _The blonde grabbed four plates and put the small meal of breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, and pastrami sandwiches onto each plate. Then, the blonde somehow balanced all four plates on his two hands and walked over to the living room and carefully placed the plates on the table for his three guests and himself.

"Itadakimasu!" Natsu and Gray immediately dug into the breakfast with the forks already on the table; it smelled heavenly. Cana held back so that she could tell Naruto something. However, before she could start, Happy spoke.

"Naruto, what about me?" The young Exceed asked. Naruto smiled as he sat down on the remaining chair and unsealed a small plate of sushi before handing it to the Exceed. Then, Naruto picked up his fork and was about to begin his own meal before stopping when he saw Cana staring at him.

"Yes?" He said, the fork and pierced piece of bacon in midair. Cana opened her magazine and flipped through the pages before stopping at a certain one and showing it to Naruto. The blonde's eyes immediately widened in shock.

"_Wow…doesn't this remind of the bingo book back at home…er…the past. But seriously…they would do this over who girls want as their boyfriends?"_

"And what did you want to tell me by showing this?" Naruto asked. Cana placed it on the table for everyone to see and leaned back in her chair as she crossed her arms over her small chest.

"Nothing. I'm just showing you since you never read magazines or the news," Cana said. Gray and Natsu leaned in over the table. Happy didn't have to do anything since it was right in front of him. The three practically spit out the food in their mouth, barely preventing it from occurring when they saw Naruto's short demonic glare at them.

On the page that Cana had flipped to was Naruto in his sage clothing, the clothes billowing slowly in the wind, the blonde staring off at the distance. In the background of the picture was the sunset dying away in an ephemeral glow. On the top of the page was his name in bold letters next to the number six. Right below his name was his moniker, **Arashi (Storm)**, in slightly smaller bold letters, and next to that were the words 'Youngest S-class Mage in the history of Earthland'. On the side of the page were random stats and quotes from writers and other mages, and it also showed what magics Naruto used and had a short explanation for each of the abilities.

"That's not true, Cana; I believe that information is one of the most important things that a person must have…but I didn't think this would be helpful until you showed me this today…but how did they get this picture of me in the first place?" Naruto said in response before taking a bite from his breakfast.

"The media is everywhere, Naruto," Cana said in a somewhat sage-like voice.

"You're sixth in who girls want their boyfriends to be?" Gray, Happy, and Natsu exclaimed in surprise when they saw the paper. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed as he chewed on a piece of bacon.

"Fangirls…the bane of my existence. What's even worse is that I'm thirteen, closing on fourteen in a few months." Cana leaned forwards in her seat with a sultry smirk that seemed to fit her for some reason.

"What if I told you that I was one of those fangirls that voted for you?" Cana said. Naruto paused, hesitating for a moment before placing his fork on the table.

"I'm flattered that you think that way Cana." Naruto said calmly. Inside in his was a completely different story; he was wondering if Cana was doing some things for any certain reason, but he was unsure. Cana was a blank page at times and much more difficult to read than Hinata…but maybe that was because he was just bad at reading faces sometimes..

"Nah, I just voted since I saw your name," Cana said, revealing her reasoning.

"Wait, you're not even denying it or caring that you're sixth on the list of mages?" Gray asked. Naruto shook his head.

"I don't really care what they do. However, I find it interesting that mages already know who I am enough to make statements about me…and I'm wondering how these reporters even got information on my skills and abilities," Naruto said calmly.

"They ask mages, but a majority of their information comes from files," Gray said. "But how do you find it beneficial to read this at all?" Gray asked.

"Information," Naruto said, as if it were the most simple thing in the world. If he had information on other mages, then he knew what to expect. Although it was unlikely that there were would be a war or even events like the Chunnin Exams between multiple guilds, the blonde still preferred to have as much information as possible, something Ero-sennin had ingrained into the blonde's head. "Either way, I'm most likely going to disappear from that magazine eventually."

For some reason, the four others at the table found it hard that statement hard to believe and actually thought that the blonde would move up in stats. Oh, how right they were.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Fairy Tail Guild Hall)

"No," Naruto said.

"Why not?" Natsu whined out. Naruto continued to stare at the Mission Board on the first floor and scrutinize the list of missions.

"I don't want to take an S-class mission for at least a week," Naruto said.

"But we can do it!" Natsu said, trying to convince the blonde. Naruto turned away from the board and stared at the overeager dragonslayer.

"Natsu, understand this. All of the S-class missions we've gone on, even if they are more difficult than the A-class missions, were the easiest and simplest of all the choices on the request board on the second floor." Natsu widened his eyes, but Naruto wasn't done. "And until you become stronger, more analytical, and more tactical, I'm not going to take you on the more difficult S-class missions. This applies to all of you," Naruto said, turning to Gray and Cana.

"When can I join on any S-class mission then?" Happy asked as he joined the group with the Strauss family. Naruto turned over the Exceed and smiled at both him and the family of three, although his smile became a smirk when he saw Mira glaring at him.

"When Natsu become strong enough to protect you on missions without hindering his performance. Good morning to you Mira." The eldest of the Strauss family just growled at the blonde as she continued to glare.

"Take us?" Mira said suddenly. Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion as he continued to stare at Mira.

"I'm sorry? Take you guys where?" Mira took a breath to calm herself; she didn't want to deign to request the blonde anything, but the S-class trials would be up in a few months, and she wanted to get an early start on the missions.

"Take us on an S-class mission," she finally said.

"No," Naruto said immediately. Mira seemed taken aback by the immediate rebuttal before she glared at the blonde with unrestrained anger.

"And why the hell not?" She demanded. Lisanna nudged her sister on the side.

"Language, Mira-nee. Don't corrupt Happy," the younger sister said. Mira clicked her tongue in annoyance, but she would do it for her sister.

"Fine, I'll watch my language. But," she said, once again glaring at Naruto, who was apathetically staring back at her with a mission request in his right hand, "you still haven't told me why not."

The blonde thought about the best way to explain his reasoning to her. However, he felt that being candid and blunt would be the best.

"Okay…I'll be completely honest with you. But before that, let me ask you something: can you beat me?" Mira immediately became silent as she struggled to answer. Her pride wanted her to say yes, but the obvious answer was no. Finally, she relented to the obvious truth.

"…No…I can't beat you," she said softly, her glare's intensity dropping slightly. Naruto nodded. It was good to note that she had lost some of her pride.

"Correct. Now, if on an S-class mission, you had to go up against someone like me, what would you do?" That one was easy for Mira; she lifted her head and responded immediately.

"I would use **Satan Soul,**" she said, but she didn't expect for Naruto to say it at the same time.

"I would use **Satan Soul**. Mira, don't be surprised; it was a predictable answer. Again, that would be your best course of action _currently__**. **_However, I happen to know what happens when you delve completely into **Satan Soul**: your demon inside will take over for a period of time and you will be a loose cannon, attack and friend and foe alike. And there are a few things I dislike having on missions: lacking information on a mission, unpredictability, and loose cannons**,**" Naruto said bluntly. Everything the blonde had said was true: **Satan Soul** could possibly make Mira exponentially stronger for a period of time, but there were drawbacks. Delve too deeply, and what Naruto said would occur.

"What do you know about **Take Over **magic and controlling an inner demon, huh?" Mira asked angrily. For a moment, Naruto's gaze hardened.

"_More than you would ever know."_ However, the blonde didn't say anything about his previous status as jinchuriki.

"It doesn't matter how much I know about it; I'm just stating a fact. Every time you have used even a small amount of **Satan Soul**, your personality shifted and you become more animalistic and feral. And I'm certain that if you tap too far into the power well, you would go into something akin to a berserker's rage." This time, Mira stayed silent.

"Then again, I said _currently _for a reason. You're asking because you want an impressive mission record to qualify for the S-Class Trials, right?" Mira nodded her head slowly. "Okay, let me tell you a little secret. The mission record has almost nothing to do with who Master and the S-class mages choose for the candidates; rather, it's the mage himself…or herself that makes the difference." Mira, along with her two siblings and Naruto's teammates, widened her eyes from the information.

"Then why would do we always go on a kind of mission rush when the S-Class Trials come closer," she asked, shock lacing her tone. Naruto raised his palms in a gesture of ignorance.

"Who knows? Maybe someone started doing that and everyone starting following him or her; after a while, it became a yearly occurrence. The best thing you could do is simply train and become a better mage. Sorry if I offended you," Naruto said as he walked away towards the bar counter to get the mission request stamped and accepted by Master.

"Naruto and his team reporting for mission. We would like to take this A-class mission," Naruto said, placing the mission request on the table. Makarov didn't put down his cup of beer as he waved his hand.

"Why are you always so formal whenever you report and informal every other time?" Makarov asked as he reached for the mission without looking and quickly stamped it; Naruto had a perfect record so far, so he wasn't really worried. Naruto immediately lightened up when his mission was stamped and smiled.

"Who knows, Jiji-san?" Naruto said playfully with a wink as he turned around.

"Wait! Can we join on that mission then? You said it was A-class, right?" Mira said from behind Naruto. The blonde stopped in tracks, his smile hidden since his back was to the girl.

"Jiji-san, add the Strauss siblings to the mission." Naruto then turned around and gave a smile at the old man. "See you later, Jiji-san."

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Three Hours)

The two teams had just completed their A-class mission with ease and were on a train ride back to Magnolia. However, there were seating issues, so the teams bought two rooms. Naruto decided to go with Mira since he felt that she had wanted to say something during the mission but held back since everyone else was around. So, her two siblings and his team, including Happy this time, all went into one car. For some strange reason, no one complained, although Naruto noticed that Cana gave Mira a seemingly jealous stare before going into her car. Naruto stored that information somewhere in the back of his head…way in the back of his head.

At least no one complained about the set up, but that was probably because Naruto paid for a somewhat luxurious car for the larger group. Natsu was cheering…until the train actually started moving.

Naruto and Mira both sat down in the plain car of the train and stayed silent, letting the lazy afternoon take over for a moment. After Naruto had explained to her why he wouldn't take her on S-class missions just three hours ago, Mira's animosity towards him seemed to mainly disappear. Five minutes after the train was on its way back to Magnolia, Naruto spoke.

"So what did you want to talk about?" He said lazily. Mira glared at him for a moment before dropping it immediately.

"…I was going to ask why you take Gray, Natsu, and Cana on S-class missions but you wouldn't take us. I mean…I'm stronger than any of those three, right?" Naruto remained silent and mulled the issue in his head. Mira, however, took his silence for something negative and dropped her head. Finally, Naruto spoke.

"Hmm…how should I say this? Yes, you're definitely stronger than them, but they have better teamwork and more experience in fighting with me than you would if you were in my team. I'm positive that if it was a year ago, you would've beaten the three of them without even trying by yourself, but now…it's a high possibility you would lose." Mira had perked up when Naruto said she was definitely stronger drooped again when he said that she might lose against the teamwork of his team. Naruto noticed this and immediately tried to reassure her. "This doesn't mean that you aren't a strong mage by any means; you're around high A-class for certain and you are strong for your age-"

"But not nearly as strong as you," Mira said silently. Naruto pretended not to hear her quiet remark and continued.

"-and you will be nominated for the S-Class Trials this year," Naruto said. Mira immediately perked up again with a somewhat shocked expression.

"Wait, how do you know that? Did Master tell you?" Naruto shook his head.

"I simply know. It's like I know that Erza will be chosen this year as well as the other three that contested last year. I keep tabs on all of my fellow guild members and know who Jiji-san would choose by deduction and reasoning."

"_It helps that I was also a candidate for Hokage and that Baa-chan taught me the basics of choosing teams for missions," _Naruto thought to himself.

"Erza is going to be in the Trials? Oh, I'm going to kick her ass!" Mira said with a snarl. Naruto chuckled. The white-haired mage lost her feral look and immediately looked somewhat sheepish, something she would never have done beforehand in front of the blonde. "Wh-what's so funny?" Mira inwardly cursed herself for the small stutter.

"Nothing. It's just that your rivalry reminds me of something," Naruto said with a somewhat wistful tone, reminiscing his old memories with his old team and his childish rivalry with Sasuke.

"I have a request. Can I train with your group?" Mira asked suddenly. Naruto didn't hesitate to respond.

"Sure, go ahead. I'm just warning you now though," Naruto said as his face became shadowed from the afternoon lighting, "…that my training is…hell!" Mira gulped for a moment but she steeled her resolve. She had a demon in her body, so his training couldn't be that bad…right?

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: One week)

Naruto was not amused at all. He was staring at a page on the Sorcerer's Magazine while his team and Mira was laughing at him as they surrounded him on the table. Over the week, Mira had decided to try to get to actually know Naruto and was surprised with what she found out; the blonde literally had a reason behind everything he did. The pranks he did on her and Erza weren't just for fun, despite the fact that was part of the reason, but it was also a way for them to learn tactics and deception. In his own way, Naruto taught Mira some methods and tactics and even tricks to use while fighting, although he was unsure about how her **Satan Soul **abilities actually worked. By the end of the week, her animosity for the blonde virtually disappeared completely, leaving behind only respect and a small amount of admiration for how attentive the blonde was to each of his fellow guild members and how hard he worked to improve himself.

"When the hell did they take this picture of me?" He questioned as he stared at the picture of him on the magazine. This time, it was a picture of him happily eating ramen from a stand. Again, like before, there was his name in bold letters along with his moniker, a few quotes from writers and mages, and his abilities and stats from the people. However, his number had changed.

"The media is everywhere," Cana said again.

"Hey Naruto, you're number four now!" Natsu said, laughing as he gripped his stomach. Naruto grumbled lightly and put down the magazine.

"Seriously, are the girls here a bunch of cradle-robbers?" Naruto asked sarcastically. The four teens around Naruto and the Exceed began to laugh harder. The blonde skimmed through the pages to see if there was anything new for him. After he had flipped through the whole magazine, he closed it and sighed.

"Hey Mira, is there a reason why your brother and sister don't join us for training?" Mira looked away for a moment as she wiped away a stray tear from laughter.

"I told them what you did for training and they decided not to join, despite the fact that Elfman continues to say he's a man." The group of teens laughed lightly at that. "But I have to agree with him when he said that your training regimen was ridiculous." Natsu smirked.

"Oh, it only gets worse from here, Mira. I've been using **Gravity Seals **with my training sets every day since day one, and he makes it heavier whenever I get used to the weight. Just recently, he's been adding in **Resistance Seals**, something that he never used on you or Erza," Natsu said. Mira's white face paled, turning into the same color as her hair.

"You're joking, right?" She said. Cana, Gray, and Happy all shook their heads as Naruto and Natsu kept a smirk plastered on their faces. Suddenly, Naruto stood up.

"I'm going on an S-class mission alone, alright. I'll see you guys in a few days." The blonde said as he walked away. Mira looked over to the four that didn't follow the blonde or even question him.

"You guys are fine with him going by himself on an S-class mission?" All of them nodded their heads, although Happy didn't count since he never actually went on a single mission that was higher than A-ranked.

"If he's by himself, he can go all-out and actually do the higher ranked S-ranked missions. He may seem strong now, but what he showed during the S-Class Trials last year is actually on a completely different level than what he shows us," Gray said. This got the interest of the rest of the group since they had never actually seen the blonde go all-out; they had seen him use his **Storm Style **"magic", but the blonde had never gone into a fight without holding back.

"So, are you going to tell us something about him or are you going to stay silent?" Mira asked when Gray didn't say a word.

"Stay silent," he said. The group face-faulted before pointing at him with accusatory fingers.

"Then why the hell would you tell us that in the first place?" Gray smirked.

"Hmm…because I felt like it. But I'll tell you one thing. He made Gildarts move."

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Four Months)

Naruto was correct in his assumptions when he had said that Mira, Erza, Freed, Bixlow, and Evergreen would be the candidates. After four months of training, his teammates were slightly put off that they weren't chosen. However, when Mira had beaten all three of them easily in a one versus one matchup, they calmed down and began to train even harder to improve themselves.

After Naruto had returned from the solo S-class mission, he was not amused to note the fact that the media had somehow taken another picture of him, only this time he was fighting. Through the months, Naruto created colorful insults for the fangirls, progressively creating more and more absurd names such as "cradle-robbers, baby boomers, pedo-rapists" and a ton of others. After that mission, he never went on solo missions and always had someone next to him so that the picture would never end up with him alone in the picture.

What Naruto didn't know was that not only Cana was voting for him, but Mira, Lisanna, Natsu, Gray, Happy, and even Erza were voting for him; they finally had a chance to prank him in some form, even if the blonde didn't know it.

"I wonder what's going to happen for this year's S-Class Trials. Master told me it was at a different location, but he still hasn't told us about how the trials would actually work out this year." Naruto was sitting alone at a table in the guild hall since it was still quite early in the morning, but his friends had gotten used to his early hours and started to join him. When the weekly Sorcerer's Weekly was dropped off in front of the guild in a stack, Naruto grunted as he pushed himself off of the table to stand up and walked over to the pile to pick up one magazine. Upon sight, the blonde immediately scrunched his eyebrows. Naruto then picked up only a single one of the magazines and then walked back to his table while flipping through the pages.

"Cradle-robbers," Naruto muttered when he saw that he was still on the top ten list of 'Mage you want to have as a Boyfriend'.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N: Well…this was fun. Kind of. No action whatsoever. I wanted to try and do something new, and this was it. I hope it was still enjoyable. I tried, haha. **

**Please leave nice and long reviews…and criticisms, too! No flames. I don't want to start crying randomly during class.**

**See you guys soon (hopefully). KenzoXShuyita out :D**


	9. Chapter 8: Make or Break it?

**Chapter 8: Make or Break it?**

**A/N: Did you guys…miss me? I'M BACK!**

**Oh damn…over 800 favorites and 900 follows? Haha, I'm not going to stop saying you guys are the best, because you guys really are haha. Just wondering, were you guys slightly annoyed by the time skips? If so, from now on, I'll do my best to cover the last four years before canon but…I don't know…haha. Late updates, yea yea. But it wasn't my fault! So much homework from school, piano recital…and then studying for days…yea my life haha.**

**For those who want a multiple girl thing or something, I'm stating this right now: This will be a single pairing story. I'm kind of against writing harems and stuff like that (sloppy seconds are just nasty…and the idea of like sloppy tens are even worse).**

**Information on the Story: If Cana had a fight against straight up hand-to-hand combat, she would probably be even simply because she's more flexible and more graceful. Also, Naruto taught her constantly either with clones or he taught her himself. Natsu is either high B-class or low A-class currently, but without the seals, he would be around high A-class to low S-class simply because the release in seals would increase his speed exponentially. However, Gray would be able to counteract this by simply increasing the amount of moisture and ice in the air, creating ice obstacles, or simply freezing up Natsu. True, Natsu could heat himself up and the environment, but Gray has much more control over his magic.**

**Chapter 8 START**

_When you say 'I'm so close' or 'I almost got it', it doesn't make a difference at that moment because you still missed it. – Mirajane Strauss_

**XShuyaX**

"Naruto-chan." The blond mage turned around to see who called him to find the Master motioning him to come over to the bar counter. When Naruto had walked over to the counter, Makarov filled up a cup of beer and moved it closer to Naruto.

"Um…what do you want me to do with this? You know I can't drink, right?" Makarov waved his hand from side to side in a nonchalant manner.

"It's Okay, Naruto-chan. You're fifteen anyways, right?" Naruto just stared at the cup of beer before looking up at the Master, contentedly drinking his alcohol.

"Um, I'm fourteen, Jiji-san. Also, when did I become Naruto-chan? I don't really think I'm feminine or cute at all," Naruto said. Makarov cracked open one eye before pulling out a Sorcerer's Magazine from behind him. The blond recoiled for a second before closing his eyes as he sighed. Then, he sat down on a chair in front of the master, his chin lazily resting on the palm of his hand with his elbow against the wooden surface of the counter. "So what do you need, Jiji-san?"

"I just needed to tell you that you won't be needed for the S-Class Trials this year," he said. Naruto raised his eyebrows but remained silent. "Since there are five S-class candidates, I decided that three S-class mages would be enough: I, Gildarts, and Laxus will be filling the spots; you can do what you want that day."

"I don't get it. Why would you not let me help out in the trials if I'm also an S-class mage?" Naruto asked questioningly. Makarov stared Naruto dead in the eye before speaking.

"Do you want to participate, Naruto?" The blond was taken slightly aback by the question before he sheepishly grinned and gave the old man an eye-smile.

"Hehe…not really," the blond replied candidly. The old man deadpanned as he continued to drink from his cup of alcohol.

"There, my point has been proven. Anyways, how is your team doing with the training?" Naruto smirked as his eyes seemed to shine with no small amount of pride.

"Natsu will be ready next year for the S-Class Trials. So will Gray if he starts to focus on his physical aspects. Cana can hold her own, but I need her to excel at both the long and short range abilities she has, but she's the best-rounded of the three," Naruto said confidently, as if daring the Master to rebuke anything the blond had just stated. Makarov smiled as he chuckled a bit.

"Alright, alright. You can go now." Naruto stood up from the chair and gave a mock salute before turning around and walking away.

"See you, Jiji-san," the blond said, waving his hand over his shoulder. Naruto walked out of the guild and walked slowly through the streets of Magnolia Town, ignoring all of the looks he was receiving from the population: looks of lust or want from the women's side and looks of annoyance or jealousy from the men's side. However, the blond did seem to radiate a bit of annoyance as Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly. Either way, none of the citizens of the town noticed and continued to the give the ambling blond a look of recognition; his name had spread throughout the whole of Fiore, and his sage clothing was a dead giveaway to who the blond was.

After about five minutes of walking out of the town and into a seemingly random forest clearing, the familiar sounds of training became audible to the blond. Naruto removed his hands from his pocket and bent forwards slightly, barely dodging a flaming fist from Natsu. While the dragonslayer was still in midair, Natsu twirled quickly and spun to kick at Naruto's head. Naruto ducked under the horizontal kick, the sweeping kick flying right over his head, creating a small wind that made the Naruto's spikes of hair shift slightly. Before Natsu could spin again in midair and recover, Naruto quickly straightened himself and slapped a seal onto Natsu's back.

"Wah!" The dragonslayer yelped in surprise as he dropped to the grounds from the effects of an even heavier **Gravity Seal**. A small cloud of dust rose from the impact. Naruto ignored the complaints from the dragonslayer and walked right past the downed Natsu; Natsu was already getting used to the **Level 9 Gravity Seal**, so Naruto applied an even heavier one to compensate.

"_Natsu will definitely be a powerhouse in the future; he's focusing mainly on power and speed. Maybe in about two or three years, I can help him focus on his control, but for now, I'll help him with his physical capabilities. Besides, that'll be more than enough to give him a chance at the S-Class Trials; can't hit what you can't see, and his hits are also getting stronger."_

"Damn you, Naruto!" Natsu yelled out from his position a meters away from the blond. Said teen ignored the plea for help and continued to walk, passing the foliage of the forest for about another minutes until he was in the custom training clearing. As always, Gray was idly meditating as he focused on his control over his ice magic. Cana and Mira were doing physical exercises; just recently, Naruto had begun to apply **Gravity Seals** onto the two, although the latter was already **Level 8** since Mira had gotten used to a certain weight already from all of the times Naruto had used a seal on her to stop her from attacking him. Like Natsu, Mira also had a **Resistance Seal** applied onto her, although weaker. However, unlike the Natsu, Naruto felt that she should focus more on her control than her strength and speed; the physical capabilities would come with her **Satan Soul **transformation.

As soon as Naruto walked into the clearing, all the four others in the vicinity immediately gave the blond a greeting. Gray opened his eyes and gave Naruto a curt nod before meditating again, something the blond had taught him and was getting ready to teach Natsu; seriously, that pink-haired idiot needs to learn something called self-restraint. Cana and Mira both gave Naruto a smile and a wave, although Cana's greeting was much more appealing and happy since Mira was still…well, Mira. Naruto returned each of their greeting with a smile and waited for the fourth greeting. Only a few moments later, it came.

"Hey, Naruto! Do you have fish?" Before the Exceed could even finish the daily question he asked Naruto every morning, the blond had already summoned a small plate of sashimi and sushi. Happy's eyes gleamed before he flew up and grabbed onto the plate with his paws, grabbing onto the edges of the plate. Then, Happy flew next to Gray and dropped next to a comfortable spot on the ground under a shade and contentedly began to eat his daily breakfast. For some reason, the way Happy ate made Naruto chuckle in amusement every time; the Exceed pretended he was a shark and chewed onto the fish while thrashing his head back and forth.

When Naruto had calmed down, he walked over to Mira, who had restarted their exercises. The eldest Strauss glanced at Naruto but didn't stop her sets.

"Do you need something, Naruto?" Mira finally asked after she had finished her push-ups. The blond had remained silent the whole time she had been exercising, musing silently to his self. Recalled from his inner musings, Naruto nodded when he heard Mira's question.

"Yea…I wanted to tell you that until the S-Class Trials, I'm going to be working with you individually. We're going to be working together continuously, and I'm going to take you on a few S-class missions with me for experience, got it?" Mira smirked when she put down her bottle of water, turning her head so she was facing Naruto's serious expression.

"You're finally taking me on a mission?" Naruto smirked at Mira's challenging tone.

"Are you prepared to?" Mira leaned closer to the blond until she was a few inches away from him, breaching into his comfort zone. Cana saw this and glared at Mira but continued her exercises as she remained silent, sweating profusely; she wanted to beat Mira as soon as possible, whether it was in a battle or making Naruto hers.

"_Wait, what? Where did that…"_ The brunette stopped her exercises for a moment to take a drink from her water and stood up, gaining the attention of both Naruto and Mira from the movement and noise, both who turned to Cana.

"I'm going to run," she stated to Naruto, ignoring Mira's small smirk. The leader of the group nodded and gave her a smile before turning back to Mira to talk to the Strauss about scheduling and one-on-one training. It was true that Naruto had always focused on each of his team members; he never gave more than a tip or an idea before returning to his training regiments. However, the blond had never stopped his training to train someone by himself, not gaining the physical benefit of his training.

Cana turned away from the clearing and began to jog, taking a somewhat difficult pace through the forest path. While the brunette ran, she unconsciously focused pure magic manipulation to her feet and legs to speed up her movements, but she still had not gotten the grasp of how Naruto used **Pure Magic Manipulation**, but she continuously practiced it. As a result, her control had increased a noticeable amount, although it was nowhere near Gray and especially Naruto's level; to be able to mix magical abilities were an extremely difficult feat to triumph over.

However, what was bugging her was the fact that Naruto, who had an addiction to training worse than Natsu did, was actually stopping his physical exercises to individually help Mira. It may be true that Naruto would try to help each of his teammates individually when the time comes as well, but currently, this was irritating her without cessation. The small victorious smirk Mira gave the brunette before she turned away didn't make matters any less annoying.

Cana sighed as she slowed down to a stop next to a tree and leaned against it before drinking a bottle of water taken out of her **Requip** space. Naruto had told her to learn how to use the basics of **Requip **so that instead of pulling out cards from convenient spaces, the cards and weapons would be in an alternate dimension that could be pulled out immediately with a tap of magic. With this development, Cana had learned to apply basic **Requip **magic by copying Naruto in a way by how he used seals; the blond had shown Cana a simple move by switching from close range to long distance attack. When Naruto showed her, he was sparring against a clone of himself before backflipping away to gain distance. While in midair, the blond pulled out two explosive tags from his seals and threw them at the clone, effectively ending the fight. With this example taken to mind, Cana practice to use her **Requip **effectively in order to copy Naruto's simple but effective attack; it had taken nearly a month of practicing to even copy the speed at which he pulled out the explosive tags. Obviously, making the action smooth and somehow able to be used in combat was a different story. Naruto had explained to Cana that simply knowing motions of a technique or a style of fighting wouldn't make a difference if she wasn't able to effectively use it in combat. When the older of the two, Cana, asked what he meant and to show an example, a few of Naruto's clones all started attacking the blond at once, and by few, it meant nearly a hundred of them.

What happened next was an absolute massacre as Naruto used only the Hyuuga style of fighting, specifically Hinata's style, along with his seals. Of course, Natsu had wanted to jump into the fray as he had lit his hands on fire in anticipation, but the dragonslayer was just as shell shocked as Cana, Mira, and Gray. Even though the clones should have had the same skill as the original, the way Naruto was taking care of the clones with such grace and ability, even making it seem as if the original blond wasn't trying, was mesmerizing. Before they knew it, Naruto had taken care of every single assailant, although taking care of the last ten clones were much more difficult. When the blond had finished, he turned to the four and smirked and gave one true statement.

"Number doesn't always mean victory." Cana sighed after that recollection and started running again after she threw her water bottle back into her dimension.

Back at the training clearing, Naruto and Mira were sitting in front of each other, both of them with their eyes closed, sitting in the lotus position. Suddenly, Mira cracked one eye open and breathed in deeply when she saw Naruto was still in the same position, calmly meditating.

"Close your eyes and meditate, Mira," the blond said without even opening his eyes. Mira didn't even respond, having gotten used to this for the past four months with the blond; somehow, he always knew when she had stopped meditating, but she never figured out how.

"I still don't get how meditating is beneficial to me at all, Naruto," Mira said, completely opening her eyes. Naruto sighed in slight irritation; he preferred to complete his meditation or at least enter **Sage Mode** so that he could improve the amount of time it took to enter **Sage Mode**.

"As I've told you on multiple occasions, meditation will help you on your patience and your control. If you improve your control, it will be much easier to tap further into your power well without losing control," Naruto stated calmly as he stood up. Mira did the same and sighed when she had straightened her back and stretched out, straightening her arms above her head as she yawned.

"But still, making me fight and spar without even using my magic won't improve my control over my **Satan Soul,**" the eldest Strauss replied. Naruto patted down his clothing before looking up at the sky, the clouds lazily passing overhead. His cerulean eyes stared up at the blue sky above him.

"But did you notice that you've mellowed out a lot and haven't been blowing a fuse at every turn? You've gotten soft," Naruto stated as he dropped his head so that he was facing Mira again, the blond looking at the girl with a small smirk. Mira snarled in response as she jumped back to make some distance between the two. As one, the two dropped into their familiar stances, preparing for one of their short spars.

"Same rules as always. As long as you don't use **Satan Soul**, I won't start using my seals. I won't use my **Storm magic**, but that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you." As soon as Naruto finished setting the rules, Mira jumped straight the blond, exploding from her position, creating a small crater from where she had just stood. A moment later, she was directly in front of Naruto, her fist already in front of his face. Right before Mira's fist connected to Naruto's nose, the blond disappeared in a flash. The white-haired girl flipped in midair and righted herself before landing on the ground, sliding against the dirt before coming to a complete stop.

"I really hate that technique, you know that?" Mira stated with annoyance when she turned around to face Naruto who was standing on a tree branch a few meters above the ground, the blond holding a certain tri-ponged kunai that every person in Fairy Tail knew. The blond chuckled a bit, twirling the kunai around his index finger.

"Then you'll be annoyed with Laxus," Naruto shot back. Mira furrowed her eyebrows and glared up at the blond. "Speed, possibly one of the most important attributes to a close range fighter." Suddenly, the blond disappeared in a blur before reappearing right in front of Mira, his hand in front of her forehead in a flicking position. Mira immediately ducked, barely dodging Naruto's flick on the forehead, which seemed weak but created a gust of wind from the force of the motion.

"I really hate how you can manipulate your magic!" Mira growled out as she dropped lower to the floor, spinning on the balls of her left foot, her right leg up to catch the blond in midair with a spinning kick. Naruto easily saw the kick coming his way and leaned back, lightly pushing against the leg as it passed over his head to make her lose her balance. However, Mira responded by leaning with the light push, dropped to both of her hands and lifting both of her legs and began to spin, her legs spinning around in a helicopter motion.

Naruto raised his hands in front of him, but it wasn't to block Mira's kicks; of course, with his base stats, he would have been easily able to do so, but that wasn't the point of the spar. The point was to make the girl learn how to fight against an experienced close ranged fighter who was extremely versatile with his magics. Suddenly, Mira's legs slowed down, but just barely enough for Naruto to drop to the ground, the sweeping kick flying right over his hair. However, because the kick had slowed down, Mira had stayed in the position long enough for her dress to fall down enough to for the blond to see a certain sight.

"Wow, Mira. I didn't know you liked to wear such revealing panties," Naruto stated apathetically. Said girl blushed, immediately dropping her legs to the ground before throwing a heavy punch at the blond. The blond grabbed the overextended appendage and threw the girl over his shoulder, using her own momentum against herself. Mira flew over him, but she easily right herself in midair and landed on top of a tree branch. Only a few seconds had passed, and the two were in opposite positions.

Mira pointed an accusatory finger at the blond on the ground.

"What the hell are you saying?!" Mira shouted, her face completely red from embarrassment and anger. Naruto chuckled and looked up at her.

"Deception. Don't let my words bother you in a fight." Mira stared at the blond before her eyes widened in realization of what his words meant: he hadn't seen anything! Then, the girl's eyes narrowed as she raised her fists in indignation against the blond.

"You…that's not something you joke about!" Naruto just laughed again, although slightly louder now. When the blond had stopped, Mira was already on the ground and charging towards him, her body extremely close to the ground in a horizontal angle.

"Strength. Prepare yourself," Naruto said quietly, but barely loud enough for the Strauss to hear his warning. Naruto raised his right arm over his head, a bright sheen lighting up around the closed fist. Mira widened her eyes in shock. She immediately aborted her charge, jumping to the side barely in time before the blond brought his fist to the ground, punching the earth. The result was a huge explosion with the blond at the epicenter of the destructive attack. Pieces of earth flew up from the ground with terrifying velocity, forcing Mira to jump into the air and dodge the incoming projectiles of earth, twisting and flipping out of harm's way.

Suddenly, Naruto appeared into view a few meters away, standing on top of a layer of earth, using his chakra to stick to the surface of the rock and dirt while he spun calmly in the air, staring straight at his opponent. Mira grabbed onto a large piece of rock and bent down to keep her balance on top of it in midair as the two began to drop downwards.

As one, the two jumped off of their respective surfaces and began a midair battle. Mira had become much better at this over the course of four months, but it was obvious that Naruto still had the upper hand in every single situation. When Mira threw a hasty punch, Naruto just calmly redirected it, making the incoming fist fly barely past his cheek. Whenever Mira would kick, Naruto would simply flip or twist completely out of range. By the time the two landed on the ground, all Naruto had basically done was dodge and barely redirect attacks.

Mira dropped onto all fours and quickly got up, spinning on her feet to kick Naruto with a high spinning kick. The blond saw a major flaw in this approach and decided to end the spar. Right when Mira's kick came close to Naruto's jaw, the blond simply leaned back slightly. When the kick had passed by the barest of margins, Naruto leaned forwards and waited until Mira had completed her kick, the girl just regaining her balance and straightening herself. Right before she stood straight up and jumped away, Naruto pushed against her upper chest, making the girl to lose her balance and fall to the ground in surprise. With this, the spar was effectively ended.

The two stayed silent for a moment before Naruto sighed and Mira snarled at the same time.

"You're still too aggressive, even after four months," the blond said, his face in his right hand as he massaged his temples with his eyes closed.

"There's nothing wrong with being aggressive!" Mira argued. Naruto dropped his hand and deadpanned at her.

"Right…so when did you ever get a hit on me when you charged at me head-on?" Mira's face changed from one of indignation to slight sheepishness in an instant, the girl looking at anything but Naruto. Suddenly, the trees and scenery seemed very interesting to her. "Right, just stay silent on that one. From what I got, your speed and power have both improved decently in the past four months, and your control is much better. However, you are still easily angered by almost any kind of barb or deceptive trick, and you still charge straight at me, something you definitely shouldn't do at the S-Class Trials unless you use **Satan Soul**." Mira looked up at the blond from her currently position on the ground.

"It's obvious I'm going to use it, so why even bother trying to change my tactics?"

"What would you do if you were against Gildarts?" Naruto said, rebuking Mira's statement immediately. Mira stopped cold at the thought, sharply taking in a short breath at the idea of fighting a monster like Gildarts. However, she remembered that Gray said that Naruto had been able to make the ace of Fairy Tail move and even try against the blond. With this in mind, she was almost certain she could make S-class since she had made Naruto sweat on a few occasions during their spars.

"I would charge in either way. I don't have any actual way of winning, so I'm going to go all out from the start," she replied in a matter-of-fact tone. Naruto fought the urge to facepalm and instead took on a face of apathy before turning away from the girl and walking in a random direction. Mira, who was still on the ground, was bewildered at the action. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a mission…and you're coming with me," the blond said, stopping and turning his head slightly so that he was speaking over his shoulder. Mira's eyes widened before, in a completely out of character action, her eyes gleamed at the prospect of going on an S-class mission. Then, the she got up and before Naruto could even take another step, the girl was walking right beside him, almost salivating at the idea of all of the amazing things she could do on the missions.

"_I'm so going to beat Erza with this!" _Mira thought to herself. Naruto, on the other hand, was having an inner conversation with himself.

"_She's too straightforward and lacks tact to a certain extent, but she can notice and sometimes completely dodge my strategic attacks now. Her strength and speed has improved, but she still has a way to go if she wants to reach high Jonin to low Kage speed; she's around high Chunnin to low Jonin speed right now. With her __**Satan Soul**__, her power and speed will increase dramatically, but I don't really know how long she can hold onto the transformation ever since her control increased, and neither does she since I've told her to not use it so that she could rely on her base stats more. In a week, I wonder if-" _Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by Mira asking him a question when they entered the town, just reaching the edges of Magnolia.

"Hey, Naruto?" The blond glanced over at the girl and raised his eyebrows.

"Hmm?" Then, again going out of character, Mira began to show signs of nervousness. A twitch of a finger there, a tilting of the head there; she began to take quicker footsteps, her quiet 'taps' resounding lightly against the stone ground.

"Do you think I can make S-class?" She asked quietly. Naruto was slightly surprised that Mira was asking him about this; usually, she would just blow through everything…well, almost everything, other than his advice…and state that she could do it. Naruto completely turned his head to her and saw that she seemed nervous about his response.

"_Does she take my opinions that highly?" _The blond thought to himself before looking straight forward again.

"Honestly, you're already S-class to me. However, your biggest problem is that charge first, think after. Also, you ignore tactics and think that your physical strength and speed will take care of everything." Before Naruto could continue, Mira interrupted him verbally.

"That's not completely true. I got a hit on you a few times before when I-"

"Used tactics or a small amount of deception. If you're going to compete in physical strength and explosive, you better have a ton to back it up or else you'll just get destroyed against Gildarts and any other powerful mages." Mira stayed silent after Naruto's candid statement. That was something she hated and liked about the blond: he was mainly always honest, but when proper compliments were due, the blond gave them. However, he was extremely encouraging and always worked practically with his team; instead of explaining certain tactics, he would show them with his clones.

Right before the two opened the doors to enter their guild, Mira decided to say one last thing.

"It's strange how someone younger than me could be so much stronger and make me actually listen to him. If this was a year ago –no, even half a year ago, I probably wouldn't have listened." Naruto placed his palm against the large door and pushed gently, letting the door crack open slowly. Before it completely opened, Naruto turned to the girl and gave her a small smile, but it was a different kind of smile that made Mira slightly shocked. It was as if…he wasn't younger but had seen so much, was so much mature than the fourteen year old he was. That he knew the ways of the world; that it wasn't just black and white, but there were lots of gray and blank spots and blots. Before she could get a clear look at the blond's face, he had already turned and opened the door and walked in.

"Come on, let's go," the youngest S-class mage said, not responding to Mira's question with a verbal response, but instead deciding to speak from his heart with his expression. Mira silently followed, watching the blond interact with the guild members in a new light. Had he always been so mature and complacent? Was he always so calm and calculated? The way he interacted with the guild members was, like everyone else, like that of equals, but there was a way the blond talked and used his motions so gracefully…as if he were the one protecting them, despite that they were older. At that moment, Mira realized something: Naruto was her nakama…and she was his as much as everyone else was in the guild. He had completely accepted him…and she had accepted him as well, despite her earlier immature animosity towards the blond.

When the blond walked up the stairs, Mira didn't ask to go up with him, instead silently mulling over her thoughts on the first floor.

"Hey, shrimp," Laxus said when Naruto took the final step to reach the second floor. The guild master's grandson had given Naruto the nickname when the blond was short and had just received the title of S-class mage and **Storm** only a short time later. When he realized that the younger blond was irritated at the nickname and that his height was a bad topic to bring up with the blond, Laxus decided to keep calling Naruto 'shrimp', despite the fact that the blond was around five feet six now.

Naruto kept an apathetic expression on his face, already having gotten used to the underlying teasing beneath the name. Although Laxus was generally indifferent to the rest of the guild, there was something he always respected and acknowledged: strength. Naruto, who had not only become the youngest S-class mage, but also gained his moniker of **Storm **shortly after, it was easy enough to see that the young blond had strength in spades. So, Naruto kept a decent relationship with the usually stoic lightning mage, and remained content to keep it that way.

"Hey, Laxus. Aren't you going to take a mission?" Naruto asked, mainly just to strike a conversation, not out of actual curiosity. Laxus shifted his neck slightly, the headphones moving slightly from the motion, before stretching out of the couch in a lazy manner.

"Not today, shrimp. How about you? Finally taking another S-class mission without those other weaklings in your team?" Naruto coughed mentally to himself but remained indifferent on the outside from the small barb at his team. The blond walked over to the mission request board and silently stared at each one.

"You know they aren't weak; I've been working with them for over a year now, almost two. I wouldn't be surprised if they made S-class next year or the year after…which would mean they became S-class at a younger age than you, right?" Naruto said, trying to get under Laxus' skin a bit. Strangely, it didn't work; Laxus already knew that Naruto was just making a conversation.

"Hmph. Tell me that when they actually become S-class mages, shrimp. Get going already," Laxus said as he put on his headphones, ending the conversation. Naruto chuckled lightly as he grabbed a mission request from the board and jumped down to the first floor, ignoring the stairs.

"What took you so long?" Mira asked, her arms crossed over her growing chest. Naruto pointed at the mission request and walked away to the bar counter, not answering his partner's question. Mira just huffed in response and followed the blond.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Mira Strauss reporting for an S-class mission, Master." Makarov continued to drink his beer for a few seconds before slamming it on the table in a seemingly drunk manner.

"Huh, what did you say to me, Naruto-chan?" Mira sweatdropped, but Naruto kept a completely serious expression on his face.

"Should I take over as master for today, Master?" Naruto said in a completely monotonous voice. Instantly, Makarov shook his head and lost all of his drunken sense, his mind becoming completely clear. Although the blond could possibly make a powerful and excellent guild master in future years, he was still too young…and way too easy and complacent, much more so than Makarov was. Hell, Makarov was certain that if there was a bar fight, Naruto would prefer to let it continue until it reached its end. And if asked why the blond didn't stop the fight, Naruto would probably say something along the lines of "It was entertaining" in that ever cheeky tone of his.

Therefore, it wasn't surprising when Makarov lost almost all of the alcohol making his head feel murky in an instant. Makarov stood ramrod straight and coughed into his fist before pulling out the stamp.

"What mission do you want today? Oh, you're going with Mira?" That was something he didn't expect; only a few months ago, the blond had been on the 'to kill' list for Mira. To be able to make her change her views on him enough to even tolerate him would be impressive in just a few months, but he had managed to make her trust him. Naruto slide the piece of paper across the counter. When Makarov glanced at it, he was immediately interested.

"You're going on a mid S-class mission? What happened to going on the lower level missions?" However, Makarov stil stamped it, not waiting for Naruto to respond before passing the stamped request back to the blond; he knew that Naruto would be fine, and with Mira as an S-class candidate, and a strong one at that, the two would be fine. If anything went wrong…well that blond had that **Sage Mode** up his sleeve.

"Don't worry, Jiji-san. It's just for experience for little Mira over here," Naruto said mockingly, pointing at the girl next to him with his thumb. Mira snarled and punched Naruto in the shoulder, but it was all in jest.

"I'm still older than you, Naruto, so watch it." The blond just rubbed his shoulders and chuckled in response to Mira's threat.

"Mmhmm, whatever you say, whatever-you-say." Then, Naruto turned around and began to walk towards the exit. "See you, Jiji-san.," the blond said, waving his hand over his shoulder. Mira caught up to the blond and turned around for a moment to give the Master a wave before turning straight again and talking with the blond. Makarov stared at the two as they walked away, chatting contentedly. Then, he sighed when they disappeared from his view, the two exiting the guild.

"Kids…they grow up too fast. Mira is already an S-class candidate, and so is little Erza-chan. It won't be long either until the rest of Naruto's team catches up…I need a drink." With that, the guild master picked up his beer and took a long chug, taking the whole cup down in one go.

Outside of the guild, Naruto and Mira were calmly walking through the streets, also Mira had a small jump to her steps. Her excited attitude wasn't much of a surprise; after all, this was her first S-class mission with the blond. Just being on an S-class mission with the blond meant a lot more than that she was just strong; it also meant that he trusted her enough to go with him and knew her strengths and abilities to use proper teamwork with her in almost any situation…or at least that's what he said he could do with Natsu, Gray, and Cana.

Mira looked over at Naruto, who seemed slightly disturbed for some reason if the look on his face was any indication.

"What's wrong? Something making you…scared?" Mira asked, drawling out the last word with sarcasm. Naruto lost his disturbed look and turned his face to her while he scoffed in amusement.

"Of course not. It's just…" the blond looked back down at the mission request spread out in his hands. "…there's something wrong about this mission. I'm trying to figure it out, but there's a piece of the puzzle that's missing." Mira raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"Didn't you say that you didn't like lacking information during missions?" The blond nodded. This action only made Mira even more confused, the girl's eyebrows rising even higher.

"Then why would you choose that mission?" The blond folded the paper and placed it in a seal, a small cloud of smoke obscuring the view of his arm before there was a small visible painting kanji on hi right arm. Afterwards, the blond simply continued to stare straight forwards, turning left at the edge of town to go back into the training clearing in the forest.

"Experience. You need to learn how to take S-class missions, even if there is a lack of information. Sometimes, you have to take requests, especially ones like these." Naruto growled out, his killing intent leaking out of him for a moment before disappearing suddenly as quickly as it appeared. This got Mira's interest; what could make the usually calm and calculative Naruto so pissed?

"What's the mission information and requirements?" Naruto raised his hand to his temple and massaged it before palming his face softly.

"Our mission has two parts to it. The first part is to wipe out a dark guild, which was multiple S-class mages in there to deal with." Mira grinned savagely at the thought of fighting such powerful mages. However, she didn't speak out her thoughts, instead patiently waiting for Naruto to finish. "And the second part…is to try and recover all of the women that have disappeared from the town, all of them from ages twelve to forty. You know where they went and what's happening to the women."

Mira immediately lost her smirk and her face became dark with rage. She knew perfectly what Naruto had meant and what sufferings the kidnapped and captured women were going through.

"Scums!" She said when she couldn't hold back her anger anymore. Any man that forced themselves onto women like that, and did so because they had the power, deserved to die. Well, she knew that she wouldn't kill them, probably send them to the Rune Knights with all of their bones broken at most, but it would be pretty damn close to their deaths. She didn't believe in killing, and neither did Fairy Tail or the whole of the Fiore kingdom. Naruto nodded his head solemnly only to smirk a moment later.

"And that's why…I'm going to go all out on this mission…to show you what a real S-class mage can do," he said. Mira face of rage was immediately replaced with slight surprise before excitement. Naruto had never...seriously, never had gone all out on any of their spars. In fact, it always seemed as if he was correcting their forms while they sparred, carefully redirecting their strikes to a proper form. So, just the idea of seeing the blond go all out made Mira feel somewhat giddy inside, although it was also slightly frightening; was he possibly another Gildarts? Yes, Mira had finally admitted to herself honestly and completely that not only was Naruto stronger than her, but possibly leagues ahead of her.

The leaves on the floor crunched under the boots Naruto wore; it was still winter. After a few more minutes of silence, the A-class mage following her superior in a way, they reentered the clearing. All three were doing the same thing: training. Happy was flying around Natsu while the dragonslayer spewed fire out of his mouth in small fireballs, each making a small explosion in the air. As soon as Naruto's footsteps were heard, they immediately turned over to the blond and gave him their attention.

"Mira and I are going on an S-class mission. I'll be seeing you in around six hours later. Do what you want. Party, fight at the guild, wreck havoc…but no drinking." Cana's face drooped at the last one. "See you guys later."

Then, Naruto turned around and placed his hands onto Mira's shoulder, the girl's eyes widening from the interaction, before the two disappeared from the clearing in an orange flash.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Train Car)

"Why couldn't you just teleport us to the mission site?" Mira asked as she took a drink from her water. Naruto was reclining in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest in a relaxed position.

"I can only teleport to seals. That's why we were able to teleport to the train station and buy a ticket before the train left." Mira sighed and leaned back in her chair as well, her chin in her palm. She was bored, and so was Naruto, although he was occupying himself now by creating a small blue vortex of some sort over his right palm.

"What are you doing?" Mira asked, slightly intrigued. The blond didn't respond, instead shutting down the circular spinning vortex and letting it disappear. Then, he spoke.

"It's nothing. Just a basic **Pure Magic Manipulation **control exercise," Naruto replied, dropping his hand to his elbow. Mira leaned forwards in her seat, now completely interested; she couldn't understand how the blond could figure out how to manipulate magic in that form with such precision.

"Show me, or at least teach me." She said in a slightly demanding tone. Naruto sighed; he knew she was bored, so maybe giving her something to do would keep her occupied. If anything, she would become stronger and have more control, but then again, controlling the chakra itself was an extraordinary feat; controlling something lighter than chakra, Eterano, would probably be much harder.

"Try and direct your magic right above your palm, but not your **Satan Soul**, but just your magic." Mira lifted her palm into the air to shoulder height before staring at her open palm intently, glaring at it as it did nothing.

"It's not working, Naruto." The blond scoffed.

"Of course not. It took me years to gain my perfect control." Mira pouted for a moment before continuing to try and control her magic to the purest form, all the while glaring at her hand. Naruto sighed inwardly; although he said it was a basic control exercise, it was at least…a good twenty times harder than learning water walking. If she even learned how to make an unstable magical form of his **Rasengan** by a year's end, he would be shocked.

"I'm going to sleep; wake me up at our stop." Naruto said, slumping against the cushion until he slid down, lying on the long seat in a comfortable sleeping position. Mira didn't respond; she was still concentrating on her palm.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Two Hours)

"That's a really large building…and why is it in the middle of nowhere?" Mira whispered to Naruto. The two were standing a few hundred meters away from the building, out of site behind a few large rocks in the barren wasteland.

"These dark guilds are stupid," Naruto said in respond before ducking back under the cover of the rock, Mira copying his motion.

"So, what's the plan?" Mira asked, pressing her back against the cool rock surface, acting as if she were a secret agent. Naruto stomped down the urge to laugh; he knew how to act the part of a ninja because he lived it. Hell, he was the best ninja of his time! No one would've been able to be even close to him if he had been given another ten years, not even Hashirama or Madara. That much, he was certain of; he wouldn't even need to use **Kyuubi Chakra Mode**, much less **Bijuu Sage Mode **or **Complete Bijuu Sage Mode**.

"I'm going to make a seal so that no one can leave unless they are a woman, so just give me some time to make a large gender barrier seal around the building." Naruto pulled out a paintbrush and pointed at the dark guild building behind him, moving the paintbrush in fast, methodical motions.

"What if there are women in the dark guild?" Mira asked inquisitively. Naruto paused in his paintbrush before continuing his motions.

"If there are women that are a part of the dark guild that enjoy to rape other women…then by all means, enjoy taking them out." Naruto said with a small smirk. Mira smirked as well; the blond was finally beginning to understand her and talking her language.

"Hehe…now you're talking the way I like it, you cheeky blond!" Mira whispered in excitement, her voice laced with a snarl and sadism. Naruto chuckled but didn't stop in professional seal motions. Finally, he dropped his arm to his side and sealed his paintbrush away before saying a single world.

"**Fuuin (Seal)**!" A notice release of energy was given off by the blond. Mira stared at the building and noticed a small cubic barrier erecting around the large building before fading from view, becoming nothing with the wind and afternoon lighting.

"What next?" Mira asked, her muscles tensed for battle, a wicked smirk plastered on her face. Naruto brought his hand up to face level, the hand beginning to cackle with lightning, wind and water creating a vortex around his hand as the liquid mixed with the lightning to increase the powerful combination of elements.

"Don't you already know, Mira? We do what we do best as Fairy Tail mages…property destruction and charge in without reserves. Commence the mission." Naruto said with authority before disappearing in a blur, reappearing hundreds of meters in the air with hundreds of clones surrounding the original blond. Charging in wasn't the best of plans, especially for a ninja that was supposed to stick to the shadows and remain inconspicuous, but the world of Earthland was different in a way. There were still mages that killed, but anyone could kill. The problem of civilians around a fight between mages was also a problem, and there was a possibility of them becoming hostages, but that was what his clones were for. They were made to charge in and rampage throughout the dark guild and take out as many dark mages and they could with a limited amount of chakra while recovering as many of the captured women as possible.

Mira, who had just reached the front door of the guild, pushed the door and released her magic to its highest level, releasing **Satan Soul**.

"**Let's do this**!" Mira spoke in a demonic voice that echoed through the whole first floor of the guild building. Naruto, who heard it right before he crashed through the roof along with his hundred clones, didn't change his serious expression; he was in complete mission mode. Any mistakes would not be tolerated, especially with innocent women who had been…taken of their innocence in a way.

When all of the clones crashed through the roof and landed onto the top floor, a huge cloud of smoke, dust, falling debris, and broken wood obscuring everything from view, Naruto straightened his body. Every one of his clones held the same expression on their face. It was game time.

"Search through everything! Do not hold back and release all of your **Gravity Seals **and **Resistance Seals **if necessary! Go!" Every one of the clones released their seals immediately instead of waiting, not wanting to take a chance with the lives of the women. The original Naruto did the same, feeling extremely light and powerful without the seals.

"However…I said I would go all out, especially since there are multiple S-class mages in this building currently so…" Suddenly, the blond's chakra levels exploded, easily surpassing four Kages and creating a huge golden pillar of light that split the clouds in the sky, wisps of chakra violently swirling around the pillar, creating a torrential wind. "…that should get the attention of the mages in this stupid place."

On the first floor, Mira was easily handling the around thirty dark mages since they were all grunts, the weak mages of the dark guild. She dropped to the floor and performed a sweeping kick, completely spinning around and dropping three dark mages that had surrounded her.

"**Evil Push**!" Mira shouted as she quickly lifted both of her arms toward the falling mages before spinning in a full circle, pushing her magic from her palms. A seal appeared next to the three for a moment, brightening before the B-rank mages were violently sent out of the guild, crashing through the guild walls and bar counter.

"Tch, so weak," The Strauss said in a haughty tone, staring down the mages that were all knocked out cold on the floor. She took a step towards the stairs…and then she felt it. Absolute pressure. A huge amount of magical reserves and power, almost unrivaled in amount. Even if **Satan Soul**¸ made Mira more brash and arrogant, she knew her limits.

"_I have to get Naruto and get out of here! We can't fight a monster like…wait, that magical presence feels…almost soothing." _What Mira hadn't known was that Naruto could control his Killing Intent towards specific targets. Also, his ridiculous chakra levels that would usually press down on any normal mage, was being held up by his **Wind **manipulation. _"It doesn't matter, I have to find Naruto first!"_ With that thought in mind, Mira rushed up the stairs to go to the second floor, solidly connecting a punch to a dark guild member, sending him flying through the wall and out of the guild in a helpless heap.

Upstairs on the fourth floor was a very different story, the Naruto clones already wrecking havoc from the second to the highest floor, which was the fourth. The blond was staring straight at seven mages that he knew were all low to mid S-class mages, which would make this mission a high S-class mission.

"_Damn it, I knew there was something missing in the request! I'm really going to have to go all out…releasing my seals from before won't be enough to handle seven. My clones would be taken out from a single punch, and I don't have time to make them more durable." _A small trickle of sweat ran down the blond's neck, although he kept a poker face professionally. The two groups stared off while the sounds of destruction resounded throughout the guild building.

"So…you're the famous **Storm**, hmm? Seems like you're a bit taller than everyone says," one of the seven said in a derisive tone.

"And if I am?" Naruto said calmly, not caring to give the seven a moment to trash talk. He'll give them their last moments to appreciate life. The golden chakra had surrounded the blond along with his three major affinities, the ground nearly breaking under the blond from just the pressure. However, the S-class mages in front of the blond were handling the unrestrained pressure with minimal effort.

"Nothing. We'll just take care of you and get all of our women back, and then add one to it after today," another one said, this time in a superior tone. Naruto's expression became dark as he released more and more pressure, his chakra levels rising to even higher levels.

"I won't let you," he growled out. All seven chuckled without humor as one.

"Kid, it's seven on one. There's nothing you can do; your clones aren't here to help you. Just go home and we'll take care of the girl; trust us, we'll take _good _care of here." Naruto's expression became even darker, his eyes shifting between red, gold, and blue as he controlled his anger.

"I can make thousands of clones at my whim…and numbers were never a problem for me, even if I'm just a single person. I could just spam clones…but you all deserve punishment." At that moment, Naruto received the memories of each of his clones. For five seconds, the memories organized themselves in his head. When they had filed themselves in order, Naruto's expression changed from one of contained anger to absolute fury. With his change in expression, his eyes turned red as the chakra surrounding the blonde turned a crimson red mixed with the purified golden chakra, twirling and twisting in a malevolent maelstrom. Naruto bent on his knees as the twirling energy surrounded the blond and began to go into him. When all of the pent up energy couldn't be held anymore, Naruto screamed in anger and defiance as his chakra levels exploded once more, exponentially increasing. Now, the seven dark mages realized their peril as the blond's reserves clearly outclassed theirs…and they heard what had happened to the dark guild that had threatened him by talking about his girl team member, but they hadn't believed that a teen of fourteen could have destroyed a guild almost completely by himself. Now, they would receive the consequences for threatening Mira in front of him.

"**You…**" Naruto growled out, his face hidden by his bangs as he stared at the floor. Suddenly, he whipped his head up and glared at each of them with unrestrained fury. "**…all did it to a child…in front of her mother?! Your future is…" **Naruto suddenly disappeared, but all seven of the mages crashed through the guild walls and flew out of the guild building before crashing against the barrier that Naruto had erected beforehand, slamming against the barrier with such force that a majority of their bones were broken upon impact. At the same time, however, Naruto saw Mira fly out of the building, tumbling on the floor recklessly before passing the barrier safely. Looking past Mira, Naruto saw all of the women and young girls just outside of the barrier, staring at the building in worry and concern.

Then, out of the smoke and debris from the first floor, Naruto saw a man walk out of the building slowly and calmly, as if he were the most powerful being in the world, even against Naruto. The blond glared down with scornful eyes as he bore his eyes into the man's figure. When he got a clear view, he realized it was an older teenager, approximately eighteen years of age. He had silver hair that reached down to the small of his back, and Naruto's keen eyes noted that his eyes were an ocean blue, just like his.

"…**DEATH!" **Naruto screamed, fury lacing his words as he exploded off of the fourth floor and flew at the newcomer. The man turned and stared in shock at the blond before raising his hand and simply blocked the blond, but Naruto noticed the incredible release of magical energy.

"_Something felt wrong about that magic; it was way too dense. Almost like chakra." _Naruto increased the pressure of his punch, applying **Pure Chakra Manipulation **into his attack, completely overpowering the teen's guard, blowing him away and crashing against the barrier. However, the silver-haired stood straight back and smirked.

"A chakra user…didn't expect to meet one in my life after those two." He said, chuckling all the while. Naruto immediately narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Chakra was supposed to have died off and disappear from the world. There should have been no way for chakra to exist currently.

"**How do you know chakra?**" Naruto growled out, his voice turning more and more feral by the second. His rage was at the breaking point; he was barely remaining lucid at the moment. The teen patted his somewhat dirtied shirt stared straight at the enraged blond with a smirk before bringing his hands together and performing…handseals?

"Because I'm a chakra user myself!" He screamed in glee as lightning began to cackle around his form. Naruto widened his eyes in shock, stuck in position as he stared straight forwards, even when the lightning began to approach him at unreal speeds. When the lightning technique hit him, a huge explosion marred the area around him, creating a large crater as debris and earth flew chaotically around the area.

"NARUTO!" Mira screamed, immediately coughing afterwards from the pain of the kick to her chest she had received only moments before. She keeled over and dropped to her knees as she heaved. One of the woman came over to her and patted her back.

"Are you alright, our savior?" The woman asked. After Mira had finished dry heaving, she weakly turned over to the woman and nodded her head, noting the beauty of the woman even in her current state. She seemed so tired; bags were under her eyes and she seemed malnourished, but there was still an obvious beauty that radiated off of the woman.

"I'm no savior; we just received a request for a mission and decided to take it." The woman shook her head immediately.

"No, you saved us from those scum. But…what happened to your friend?" Mira was about to rebuke the lady and say that Naruto wasn't her friend but stopped right before she said it. She was honestly worried for him and cared for him as a person, so if she said that he wasn't a friend, then what was he?

"I…don't know," Mira said, turning to look at the clearing dust. When the screen of dust and smoke cleared, Mira and all of the women let out a breath of relief. Naruto was completely unharmed, glaring straight at the teen that stood before him.

"**Such weak lightning…you think that will take care of me? Who do you think you are, scum**? The teen seemed to take offense to Naruto's candid remarks and pointed at himself.

"I'm Oni Teuchi, the strongest chakra and mage user in the land of Fiore!"

"**Pathetic**," Naruto said amusedly. Here was a mission where he had to take care of hundreds of mages, most of which his clones took care of. And then, here come someone who said he could use chakra but was so bad at it, at least compared to him, that he couldn't even take the mission seriously anymore.

"What did you say? I'll show you, you little freak of nature," Oni screamed before performing a new set of handseals. Naruto watched without care; anything the teen threw at him, he would easily be able to take, especially with his armor made of chakra. "**Edo Tensei**!" The silver-haired teen screamed as a coffin suddenly rose from the ground. Naruto widened his eyes in shock before glaring with hatred at the teen.

"**WHO…TAUGHT YOU THAT?! YOU DARE DEFILE THE DEAD?!"** Oni only smirked in response as the coffin lid opened, and out came…the Second Hokage.

"Why have I been summoned again? Can't a dead man ever have his peace?" The second Hokage of Konoha said in a tired tone before seeing Naruto covered by his golden and red chakra. "Such high chakra levels…who are you, boy? You remind me of someone, although he was older when I met him, and I was dead at that time, too." Naruto stared in shock at the man before him; he was a legend. However, he knew that if he fought with all of his strength, the Hokage would eventually lose. Naruto lose his shocked look and took on one of seriousness, the red chakra disappearing as his rage washed away, the pure golden chakra taking its place.

"I am…Uzumaki Naruto." The Second Hokage merely raised his eyebrows even though he knew who he was.

"Hmm…well, the idiot who summoned me behind me is forcing me to fight you, although he can only make me fight at about fifty percent with his current reserves," the Hokage stated cooly as he dropped into a fighting stance. Naruto just stared straight at the Hokage before saying one word with an almost lazy air.

"**Fuuin (Seal)." **Suddenly, the Hokage disappeared in pieces of paper on the wind. Naruto watched solemnly until it completely disappeared before turning to glare at the silver haired teen, who had that everlasting smirk still plastered on his face. Naruto dropped his chakra levels, the coating of golden chakra receding back into his body, the blond's eyes changing from red and golden back to his normal blue.

"Interesting…changing the seal from outside the barrier so that not only no men could leave, but also no dead were allowed inside." The more Naruto heard this idiot, the more he was surprised. Although Oni wasn't particularly strong, he knew seals!

"I'm not very to say that…I'm going to have to kill you," Naruto said bluntly, stating his intentions without reserve. Oni only smirked again before giving the blond a mock salute.

"I know who you are, hero of the Fourth Shinobi War. Now I know why I couldn't even summon you from the dead…it was because YOU WERE NEVER DEAD IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Oni said in maniacal glee. Naruto stared passively on before pointing a finger at the teen.

"Boom." A single seal lit up from under the teen's feet and exploded. Naruto stared calmly as the dust cleared and wasn't surprised to find the area missing.

"_Go figure, he knows how to use clones. Now it makes sense why the Hokage said that he would only be able to fight at fifty percent. For Kami's sake, why couldn't I just leave my past behind!" _However, Naruto was taken out of his thoughts when one of the S-class mages moaned out, "Leader! What have you done to him?"

Naruto turned to the dark mages on the floor and then looked at the women outside. He took a glance to make sure Mira was fine before looking at each of the downed mages on the dirt ground.

"Leader, huh? Whatever…your leader was never here to begin with; that was a clone." The S- class mage just looked at Naruto in disbelief.

"Then…what am I going to do?!" Naruto took a step towards the downed mage, staring at him with a serious expression.

"You S-class mages are so weak, going down from a single punch, but who am I to judge pansies like you who take advantage of weaker women. I'm not going to deign myself to deal your punishment…but the lovely women outside of this barrier will, the very same women that you have tortured and brought pain to. Well…after I knock you all out, of course." With that said, Naruto punched the man solidly in the temple, easily taking the man out of commission.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: One Week)

Naruto never explained to Mira what had happened inside the barrier; not only had he changed the seal to remove all dead beings, but he had placed a silencing seal right when the Teuchi idiot began to blab his mouth, starting with the word 'chakra'.

Naruto swiveled in his chair and stared out the window, noting the rain pouring from the sky that had started only a few minutes before. It had started as a small sprinkle and had quickly evolved into a deluge of water.

"_I don't like the sign of this…when are the S-class mages coming back from their trials? Should be about…now actually." _Naruto sighed as he closed the diary that he was reading only moments before and placed it in the shelf before getting some clothes on, changing into casual clothing, officially ending his lazy day. He put on a warm gray jacket over a red sweater, some blue denim jeans and a white scarf that wrapped snuggly around his neck. Then, the blond walked out of his room and his apartment, putting on his shoes and walking out of the door.

Immediately, he felt a powerful negative emotion invade his senses; it was obviously from a powerful mage, S-class level at that. Sadness and disappointment was what he felt, but there were tinges of jealousy and anger. Naruto quickened his pace out of the complex and took the streets and began to run, holding onto the negative emotion to know where the person was. He used a small amount of elemental control to create a kind of water umbrella above him so that he stayed dry.

When he had run for nearly ten minutes, he was already at a clearing. It was the training clearing that he and his group trained in everyday, but was empty since it had begun to , empty but all but one person who was leaning against a tree on the floor, curled up against herself, her arms wrapped around her knees as she cried to herself.

"Mira…" Naruto murmured softly, his voice deafened by the rain. The blond walked towards the shivering girl but received no response, even when he was only five feet away from her. When he was right in front of her, she finally looked up with her tear stained face when she noticed that the rain had stopped, only to find Naruto's concerned face in front of her.

"Are you alright? Are you cold?" Naruto asked, not wanting to talk about the S-Class Trials since he already knew what happened based on how she was acting. Instead of responding, Mira began to cry again, except even harder. She had not passed the S-Class Trials mainly due to the worst luck in the world, and then Naruto finds her when she's emotionally weak somehow. Instead of asking her how the trials went or making fun of her, which she thought was possible since she didn't exactly welcome him in his first year at the guild, he simply asked if she was okay. In a way, it hurt her even more because the way he had so much faith that she would because S-class this year had made her confident in herself, only to fail. Not only that, but he had spent so much time training with her and helping her improve herself, so she felt that not only had she failed herself, but she also failed Naruto.

The blond was immediately taken aback; first off, Mira would never act this way. Secondly, he had no idea how to deal with a girl in this kind of situation. He never had any kind of intimate relationship with a girl since he was always so busy training and fighting in the war in the front lines. However, he ignored the awkward feeling festering in his chest and dropped to his knees and leaned closer to Mira. Then, he wrapped his arms around her protectively. Instead of calming down, Mira began to cry even harder.

"_Damn it, Kami! Why is it that I know how to handle S-class battles with ease, but I can't comfort a girl when she needs help?!" _If the situation wasn't so sad or serious, Naruto would be mentally crying for help. However, he didn't have help at this moment, and he couldn't pity himself at this moment either, so he continued to rub Mira's back slowly as he remained completely silent as the girl continued to cry against his shoulder in her sadness.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N: This is not a Mira/Naruto pairing. I don't care what you say, this is a single pairing with Naruto/Cana. Single! Pairing! Yeah. Cool stuff. Verrrry cool stuff. Stuff. Derp.**

**I'm so sorry for not updating…but school, studying, everything, bleh!**


	10. Chapter 9: I was never meant to Exist

**Chapter 9: I was never meant to exist…**

**A/N: Did you guys miss me? Eh? Eh? Okay…maybe not. Fine, then. I'm going to cry to myself.**

**Okay…so there were a lot of mixed reviews but…I guess that's because I haven't put a lot of explanations…hehe or none at all…hehe. But NOW! I WILL EXPLAIN STUFF…SOME STUFF! YAY! Cheers!**

**Let me explain why I kept asking for criticisms instead of flames. When you flame, you're just giving your opinion that generally lowers the morale of the writer. Simple. Criticisms, on the other hand, will **_**help**_** the writer to improve in their writings, which I obviously need since I only have two stories that have both been out for only a while. Saying something along the lines of "this chapter sucks" won't help me improve. What sucked about it? Anyways, it's not like I was expecting a perfect record or anything; I knew introducing Oni Teuchi and chakra hybrids was almost going over the edge, but you haven't even read the reasoning behind my actions. Whatever, this is becoming a rant. I'm just saying I prefer criticisms over flames, just like any other author who dislikes to read stuff like "this is trash". If you **_**do **_**like to read that…well…you're some kind of masochist.**

**Also, no one is forcing you to read it. If you like it, I'm happy. If you don't like it…well, I would like for you to like it, but I'm not going to change something. Well…unless it's absolutely mandatory or would make the story like…epic.**

**You guys didn't like the Mira/Naruto interactions, I know. But Naruto isn't interested in her like a girl, but more as simply a friend. She needed help, he'll help. **

**Woah…over a thousand follows? Umm…wow…uhh…thanks! I'll try my best to keep up your expectations…especially higher than last chapter. Sorry about that…haha.**

**Information on the Story: Nothing. Too damn lazy and tired right now. Actually, here's information on the chapter: no action. BOOM! Okay, now read the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I haven't done this in a while...I own nothing. Kami, I'm tired. I'm even saying Kami now instead of God...wow I'm tired.**

**Chapter 9 START**

_There is light…and there is darkness. But the world isn't white and black; there are lots of gray and blemishes. Just like the gray, I choose a path of shadows and twilight. That is the road I take. – Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze_

Time paradoxes. Stupid, for Kami's sake, time paradoxes.

Naruto was in bed under the sheets, staring up at the ceiling with a analytical gaze. Although there wasn't much about time paradoxes in his father's notes of space/time jutsus, Naruto wasn't so stupid as to not understand what was happening here. Because of his arrival, the world of Fiore, the future of the Elemental Nations, could have possibly become an alternate universe. Because of his arrival into the future, things that were never meant to be came to exist. Because of him…there were time paradoxes.

With every action, there is a certain reaction. Because of Naruto's arrival, it could be possible that the three other people that could use chakra were the reactions. Although he wasn't certain, Naruto was almost certain that his assumptions were somewhat correct. However, there was no way to prove that the three people other than him who could use chakra were the reactions to his arrival. And what, would he kill himself or disappear to prove it? Not only that, but there were at least three people that could use chakra…meaning that there could be more.

"Damn it," Naruto said as he gripped his bed sheets in irritation. This was something Shikamaru would be much better at; deducing and analytical things were never the blond's forte. Naruto sat up in bed and leaned against the wall next to his bed, still tilting his head up towards the ceiling, pressing his back and his head against the wall.

"But…how did that Teuchi guy know how to do the Edo Tensei?" Getting the DNA or the body parts shouldn't be too hard. A corpse or dead person would have their DNA for centuries, even thousands of years, and if they were preserved correctly, even more so. With healing techniques and other jutsus, especially forbidden jutsus, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if Oni Teuchi had recovered the DNA of the Second Hokage. As long as someone tried hard enough to find something, they would most likely find it. For Teuchi, that probably wasn't the case. The silver-haired young man, or elder teen, it was interchangeable, had probably been exposed to chakra at a young age and had also been given parts of the Second Hokage's remaining or things of some sorts from an ancestor. Or getting even something so measly as a single live cell of the deceased Hokage would be more than enough; cell replication sped up with medical jutsus would perform the job quite quickly.

A troubling thought entered the blond's mind. What if the other two or more people also knew how to use the Edo Tensei, an absolutely forbidden technique? Then what? Naruto gave a low growl in anticipation and anger; if he didn't lie to himself, he was slightly anxious. There were so many variables and unknowns about time traveling. Would he eventually disappear, or would this world change even more from his very existence? How much did everyone in Fairy Tail change because of his simple existence, his friendship with the guild members, his interactions with his team and the other mages his age?

"What about Cana? How would she be different if I never came to Fairy Tail and wasn't caught by Madara's **Kamui**?" For a moment, the blond stared blankly up at the ceiling before chuckling. "Heh, she would probably be drinking without reserve if I was never here." But he soon stopped laughing quietly to himself, thinking about all of the others: Mira, Erza, Gray, Natsu…heck, even Happy and Makarov. Honestly, he had no idea; their personalities, their strengths and weaknesses, their attitudes, their friendships…he had no concrete thoughts at all.

But…there was one thing he was absolutely certain of: he was never meant to be in this time period. For all he knew, he was dead…gone…a passing of an existence. But he was here, still alive.

Naruto's gaze hardened, his eyes focusing. Gildarts was leaving tomorrow for his SS-class mission, the hundred year mission. There was a going-away party for him tonight. For a few moments, Naruto argued with himself, deciding whether or not he should do it. For a few moments, his thoughts warred against their battle bitterly before he sighed and relented; he didn't have enough information. He _needed _information before he could do anything of significance, so the most he could do was reconnaissance, which was something he could do on his missions against dark guilds. But when the time came, he would have to steel his resolve; regardless of what other people thought of his decision, of what his team thought, he would do it.

"_What about Cana…what would she do if I left? Would she drink? And Mira…would she become aggressive again?" _Naruto dropped his gaze from the ceiling to the clock, ticking away the seconds, continuing its ticks throughout every second of the day, every minute, every hour, without a care in the world. It had only one purpose, and it was time.

Unlike most ninjas, Naruto usually portrayed his feeling during missions and did what he felt was right. He created his own nindo, his own way as a ninja. He fought to protect, and he fought to save. But when the time came, he would be a true ninja, one with only one purpose, and it was to complete his mission. He had something to take care of…and he wouldn't care for the others. He would leave the guild when no one was focusing on him; he would disappear from Fairy Tail until he completed his mission.

"_Oni Teuchi…and the other two or more…I'm coming for you…and I will…kill you."_

"Naruto! Come on, open the door and let's go!" The blond was broken out of his thoughts when Natsu shouted from outside his apartment and knocked on the door quite harshly. Naruto sighed and forced himself out of bed, quickly grabbing a random change of clothes from his closet and changing into them as he walked to the door.

"What is it?" Naruto asked when he opened the door, the door creaking silently. Natsu's excited face was seen from the small crack through the door.

"Hey, don't be like that! Open the door all the way!" Naruto yawned and completely opened the door, letting Natsu walk in along with the rest of his team. The blond widened his eyes slightly when he saw Mira waiting out in the hallway, her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the hallway wall. The two stayed silent for a moment, neither speaking as they stared at each other.

"Well, are you going to invite me in?"

"Do you want to come in?"

The two asked as the same time. Naruto cracked a small, tired smile and waved Mira in to his apartment as he turned around and walked into the living room. Happy, Natsu, Gray, and Cana had all already made themselves comfortable on the couches; Naruto had bought more furniture since they visited at least twice every week.

"Seriously, how much did you pay for these couches?" Natsu asked with a voice full of bliss when Naruto entered the living room and sat in a chair.

"Couple ten thousand jewels each," Naruto said nonchalantly. Everyone widened their eyes in surprise except for Happy, was who already eating the sushi Naruto placed in front of the Exceed just a few seconds before.

"What!" They all exclaimed as one, again except for Happy. Naruto grunted in annoyance as he leaned back against the chair, pressing against the sparse amount of cushion.

"Speak quieter, please. I just woke up," the blond said as he yawned, his hand over his mouth. "You guys remember how much S-class mission pay, right?" All the others seemed to give an expression of realization, making the blond sweatdrop. How could they forget something so simple to remember?

Mira suddenly remembered a question she had wanted to ask the blond ever since the mission had ended; how had the other person blocked Naruto's punch. However, she felt that it was better to ask at a different time, or at least when she was alone with Naruto. She knew that the blond had erected a silencing seal on top of the barrier, so she presumed that everything that happened in there was meant to remain secretive. Although she would normally ignore all precaution and just ask, this was Naruto, who seemed to have so many questions revolving around him.

Naruto was an enigma. There was no puzzle to complete because there were barely any pieces to place. The blond had an open personality and was fun to hang out with, but in reality, he was also very secretive. His origins were under a rock? Obviously, that wasn't true. Most people would just assume the blond was joking, but Natsu was literally living under a rock for years; well, he was in a cave, so it counts as under a rock, doesn't it? Either way, the point was that Mira wasn't completely oblivious to Naruto's lack of background or information. She had her own suspicions, but none of them were even close to the blond's actual past or background. Not even close.

Naruto noticed the look in Mira's eyes and put that in a storage folder in his head; he'll have a talk with her later.

"So, are we going to go or not?" Natsu asked. Naruto glanced over at the pink-haired dragonslayer and sighed.

"You're talking about the going away party for Gildarts, right?" Natsu nodded his head excitedly.

"Yeah! Can you believe he's going on an SS-class mission! That's so awesome!" Naruto disagreed inwardly. S-class mission in the time of Elemental Nations were dangerous, ridiculously so. SS-class mission were pretty much suicide missions that were almost impossible to succeed. Only a very select few would be able to succeed individually: the Kages and extremely high S-rank ninjas. His father would have also been in that handful of ninjas capable of completing SS-class missions; after all, he was the first person ever to achieve a SS-rank and a **Flee on Sight** order in the Bingo Book. Naruto had gotten close, reaching **Engage with Extreme Caution and Numbers **or **Flee on Sight**.

"_Then again, if I had just a few more years…I'm moping now." _Naruto slapped himself mentally and refocused on Natsu.

"Sure, it's great that he's strong enough to take an SS-class mission, but it's extremely dangerous," the blond said calmly in response to Natsu's excited remark.

"Come on, we already take S-class mission, Naruto. How bad could adding another S to the mission be?" Naruto sighed and closed his eyes in frustration. Cana, Mira, and Gray somewhat understood where Naruto was coming from; he had explained multiple times to Natsu that they were taking the lower tier S-class missions.

"It's the difference between a low A-class mission to a difficult S-class mission. Without any sugarcoating, it's a suicide mission for most S-class mages; even Gildarts will have difficulty to succeed, but there's still a chance." That wasn't something that the five were expecting. This information made Natsu sober up a little, the dragonslayer leaning back against his chair. Gray, Happy, and Mira remained silent, brooding quietly over what the blond had just said.

Cana seemed to take this information the hardest for some reason. Naruto glanced at her before straight out staring at her with a small amount of concern etched on his face. Her face looked full of trouble and worry.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked. The atmosphere in the room was tense, a complete contrast from only moments before. This question only seemed to bring it down even more. Cana looked up quickly and shook her head.

"It's nothing. I'm just thinking about what you said," the brunette replied. Then, she laughed quietly, but it seemed hollow. "But you're so far ahead of us that you might be able to take SS-class missions soon, right?" Naruto remained silent, as did the rest of the teens and the one Exceed around the table.

"_I'm certain that was a compliment, but I just said that SS-class missions were basically suicide missions for most mages." _The six in the room stared quietly around the room, even Natsu and Happy, who were normally full of energy and talking incessantly. All of them were thinking about a certain ace of Fairy Tail that would be leaving Fairy Tail the next morning…possibly for the last time.

"Meh…Naruto, you're such a party pooper," Natsu pouted childishly. "Such a pessimist." Naruto turned over to Natsu and glared blankly.

"I'm a realist, not a pessimist. By the way, since when did you actually start using somewhat complex words in sentences?" Naruto asked, making a barb at Natsu's intelligence. The young dragonslayer ignored it and smiled happily.

"It's kind of hard not to when I'm around you for almost two years." Instead of smiling back, however, Naruto's face hardened slightly, his expression clouding over.

"_Another thing I changed in this world because I'm here. Natsu's becoming smarter…well, that's a good thing, at the least. But if I didn't come, I can only imagine how stupid he would have been." _Naruto shuddered for a moment, thinking about his younger self; he wasn't exactly the smartest when it came to battle plans, but he was a genius of in-battle split second decisions. Now, he could say with certainty…that he was not stupid. Let the world know that Naruto was not an idiot anymore. Well, the reason why most people thought that Naruto was stupid in his earlier years, up until he was sixteen, was masinly due to the fact that at the academy, his education was an absolute failure. Everywhere in the academy, teachers would try to screw up in education so that he would die as soon as possible in the field with the wrong information in his head. Everything the teachers taught Naruto were wrong, and if the blond ever asked questions, he was ignored. It's not hard to understand why Naruto began to prank; it was a result of the lack of attention towards him. It hurt him to have no family, and it hurt even more back then when everyone hated him for something he didn't know, something that he was completely blind and deaf to.

Naruto blinked his eyes rapidly, bringing himself back to his surroundings; he had lost himself in his thoughts for a moment, immersing himself to his past. The teens were again happily talking to each other, the heavy atmosphere in the room having been swiped away with ease. Mira and Gray were next to Cana as the cards mistress set the cards on the table and read their fortunes for the day. Natsu and Happy were pleading Cana to read their fortunes as well, kneeling on the floor.

Naruto held in a small smile as he stood up and walked to the wall window and opened the sliding door to walk outside to the veranda. A moment later, Mira was standing right next to him. Naruto leaned against the railing and felt the breeze play with his spikes of hair as he glanced at the large town before him.

"_Peaceful." _That thought was ruined when Natsu and the rest of the party rushed out to the veranda and began to play outside. The blond sighed, closing his eyes in exasperation. _"Can't I have at least a week of peace?" _

Mira stood next to him, leaning forwards against the railing, staring straight forwards at the town. The two remained silent, content to let the silence speak about the comfortable air for them.

"Naruto?" The blond made a humming sound in response, indicating that he was listening. "I want to know what happened back at the mission. You haven't taken an S-class mission since then and have been acting strange ever since." The blond remained silent, instead continuing to stare at the town, now looking at the guild building.

"I don't think you had to state that I was acting strange, you know?" Mira didn't laugh at Naruto's small crack at a joke, instead keeping her serious expression. "Fine, fine. What do you want to know about the mission? Any specifics you want to know?" Naruto asked, but he wouldn't answer every question if he could help it.

"First of all, why did you create a silencing barrier; I know you made one since I saw your lips moving but I couldn't hear anything. Secondly, how did the guy block your punch? You said you were going all out, so how could he block it so easily? Thirdly, what was that power you had back then? It was almost…suffocating." Mira asked, listing off things from her mental checklist. Naruto waved his hand and turned to Mira for a moment, then looked past her to see that the other four were still entertaining themselves, not at all bothered or noticing that Mira and he were talking.

"Well, I'll answer to the best of my ability then, Mira." Naruto gave a small smile while Mira scowled. "For the first one, he was saying things that I'd rather keep secret to that people no one could hear it. I didn't just create a silencing barrier on top of the guild, but made it around me and him only. For the second one…the guy knew seals." Mira's eyes shot open.

"Wait, don't you only know how to use seals? I thought it was ridiculously hard to learn." Naruto nodded slowly.

"It is hard to learn. He created a physical defense seal that could block against anything physical, no matter how powerful or large it is. This also means that I could've punched him lightly or even tapped him, and then socked him as hard as I could, which would have resulted in a severely injured idiot." Mira contemplated Naruto's assessment of the silver-haired mage before another question popped into her head.

"Then why was he uninjured when he crashed against the barrier?"

"Another seal that surrounded his body. I would place him at Level 5 at most though. The seal was only able to block once. Also, it stopped working almost instantly after I began to use **Pure Magic Manipulation** to break through his guard. I could probably make it work five or more times, and anything less than an A-class attack wouldn't count as an attack."

"That many?" Mira asked in a silent, surprised tone. Naruto smirked.

"Seals can do anything. You just need to know how to use them." Naruto said in a somewhat prideful tone. Mira scowled again but acknowledged some truth in his statement. There was no doubt that Naruto's seals were extremely versatile…ridiculously so. Naruto turned away from Mira and stared at the mountains beyond the scenery of the town, staring at the far expanse. "Anyways, for the last question…you said what that power was? That was simply me going all out."

"_Well, all out without using any of my modes." _But Mira didn't have to know that. The girl's eyes widened again in surprise.

"That was just pure power?" Mira asked incredulously. The level of power was tremendous. There was a purity about it that brought peace to her when the Strauss felt it, but there was an underlying…demonic feeling to it. It was as if the purity was the surface, the demonic energy having converted to a purer version. Inside the pure power was…and absolutely demonic, even more so than her **Satan Soul**, power.

Naruto didn't respond, staring out at nothing, his mind going blank as he took a trip to the past in his mind. If he had Kurama, he would definitely be much stronger right now. However, his currently fourteen year old self would certainly stomp all over his other fourteen year old self with Kurama. The reason why? Back then, Naruto had no idea how to work with Kurama or even Sage Mode, and his chakra control was absolute crap. Now, the blond had reached the point of almost perfect chakra control over his affinities, allowing him to use jutsus without even making handseals except for the most difficult and chakra intensive abilities.

"Hey Naruto! Can we get lunch, because I'm starving?" Natsu asked from the railing, his feet on top of the metal rails as he balanced himself as he stood straight. Naruto broke out of his thoughts and smiled at the dragonslayer.

"Sure. Let's eat out," the blond said with an agreeing tone. Natsu cheered as he fist pumped into the air, Happy copying the motion. Cana and Gray smiled happily while Mira dropped her hard expression for a moment.

"_I might as well…since this will be my last day here for a while, won't it."_ Naruto's smile dropped from his face as soon as Cana, Gray, Natsu, and Happy walked out into the living room and to the front door. However, he plastered a fake smile to his face when he turned to Mira.

"You coming or what?" Naruto asked in a jovial tone, a wide smile on his face. Mira stared at the blond, and then walked right past him without saying a word, her shoes tapping on the wooden floor in his apartment. The blond dropped his happy expression and sighed. "Wow…way to ignore me, Mira." Naruto straightened himself and walked outside, only a few seconds behind the rest of the group that was already walking on the streets.

"Where are we going to eat?" Cana asked from the front in a somewhat excited tone. Whenever Naruto took the group out to eat, it was always a generous treat in a fancy restaurant of some sorts. He had enough jewels to pay anyway from the abundance of S-class missions he had taken. Naruto held in his laughter. Here was a fifteen year old girl who would most likely become an S-class mage by next year that was extremely enthusiastic about a single meal.

"_Then again, if it was me in the past, I would've been happy for any kind of meal. Probably why I was so happy whenever Iruka-sensei bought me ramen from Icharaku's…"_ Naruto broke out of his thoughts when a strange thought popped into his head. He was technically almost twenty-one. When he disappeared from the Elemental Nations, he was eighteen, and it had been a bit over two years since he had crashed into Earthland and created a time paradox.

"Hey Naruto, what about here?" The blond looked forwards to find the group, including Mira, waiting in front of a familiar restaurant. It was where Natsu had his first drink of alcohol, although the dragonslayer found it not so appetizing.

"Sure, let's eat here," Naruto replied after a moment. Natsu cheered and barged into the restaurant, kicking open the doors. The blond sighed; some kids just never learn tact.

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Six Hours)

Naruto's eyes twitched in annoyance.

It wasn't because of the party. No, the going away party was actually quite fun for the blond. There was a tug of war, a few random games, and a few other fun little events that, of course, eventually led to an all-out guild fight. This time, however, Gildarts was included. Naruto wisely decided to stay back next to Makarov, and watched with a smirk as many of the Fairy Tail members charged at Gildarts only to be blown back, including Natsu.

Interestingly, Laxus had joined into the fray, going straight for Gildarts. Naruto and the Master watched in interest…for ten seconds. The thunder make blond mage was taken out within about a minute; Gildarts was toying with the S-class mage before completely taking him out.

No, Naruto wasn't even annoyed that Master had thrown him into the fray. The blond had easily escaped harm by smoothly evading all incoming attacks. The guild fight had gone for nearly an hour.

The reason why Naruto's eyes were twitching in irritation and annoyance was the person in front of him. Cana was drunk, but not like a light drunk, but so drunk that her cheeks were flushed. It was almost as bad as Rock Lee with a single drop of sake.

"Cana, what did I say about drinking?" The blond said in a firm tone. Cana, in her drunken stupor, ignored the tone and leaned towards the blond who was currently sitting in a stool at the bar counter. When she leaned close enough so that their faces were only inches apart, the brunette pouted when Naruto didn't make a single change in expression.

"But I'm fifteen, so it's legal for me to drink now," she replied in an extremely slurred response. Naruto stared passively as her alcoholic breath went over his face.

"_At moments like these…I really wish that my nose wasn't so sensitive."_

"I still don't think you should drink, Cana. It isn't healthy and you're acting strange." Cana leaned forwards even more so that now, she was basically sitting on Naruto's lap as she stared at him, her face completely red.

"Hey, Naruto. What do you think of me?" The blond raised his eyebrows for a split second before he immediately tensed up.

"_Oh shit…I'm in this situation. Ero-sennin…I wish you could help me now."_ For some reason, Naruto could see the perverted toad sage sitting somewhere in the guild building drinking a beer with tons of hot women at his side as he laughed uproariously. Then, the pervert turned to Naruto and gave him a grin before fading away.

Suddenly, Cana slapped both of her hands on to each of Naruto's cheeks, forcing him to look up at her.

"Hey, answer my question. What do you think of me?" The two stared at each other for a moment, one in anticipation and the other in an apathetic stare, although Naruto's apathy was belying his confusion inside.

"_Maybe I can wave off the question? Kami, why do I have to have no experience on this stuff?" _Naruto shut his eyes and sighed.

"Cana, you definitely had too much to drink. Let's get you home." For some strange reason, or not so strange if the blond had any tact when it came to relationships, Cana glared heatedly at the blond. Suddenly, she leaned closer to his face, releasing her hold on his cheeks and pressing her finger against his chest harshly.

"You like Mira, don't you? I saw you two act all close to each other. You-" Cana loud voice and accusations were silenced when Naruto clamped his hand over her mouth quickly. He took a furtive glance around the area, and was somewhat surprised to notice that not that many people heard what Cana said…not that many people as in half of the guild. How the guild can hear some random crap from all the way across the guild hall when there was a bar fight would never make sense to Naruto. Well, unless they had some ridiculous hearing.

"Er…you guys saw and heard nothing," he said in a somewhat embarrassed tone. The drunken and sober faces of the guild just stared at Naruto and Cana. The blond just stared back at them, his cheeks turning a deeper shade of red by the second.

"MMMPH!" Cana screamed, although the sound was still muffled. Naruto turned his attention to the girl on his lap and grabbed her shoulder before the two disappeared in a flash of orange light

"What the hell? Naruto, teach me that!" Natsu said from across the guild hall. The dragonslayer turned to Gray and Mira with a confused expression on his face. "Do you know where they went?" Gray shook his head.

"He has to teleport to a mark, and the only areas I know where he marked are the guild hall, your house, his house, the training clearing, and some random areas around town and in other towns."

"So where could he be right now?" While the two boys, and the rest of the guild, talked to each other, Mira stared at the spot Naruto and Cana were beforehand before flashing away.

"She liiiiikes him," Happy said in Mira's ear, the Exceed flying in the air. Mira broke out a small blush and swiped her hand at Happy.

"Who taught you about relationships?" Mira asked. Happy pointed at Natsu. She turned to the dragonslayer with a glare, who involuntarily gulped in fear as he took a few steps backwards. "And who taught you?"

"Ehehe…Naruto?" Mira widened her eyes in surprise; what could someone almost a whole year younger teach someone older?

"What? Then what did he teach you?" Natsu stayed silent, so Happy spoke up for him in an excited and happy tone.

"When a man and woman love each other, they go to bed and they have se-"

"Stop!" Mira shouted at the Exceed, a heavy blush on her face. Happy continued to smile as he dropped onto Natsu's head.

"_What the hell is Naruto teaching them?" _

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Training Clearing)

The two remained silent, the two leaning against a large tree trunk as the cold penetrated through their layers of clothing. The cold seemed to freshen up Cana's mind; her drunken stupor seemly to be slowly disappearing.

"You like…Mira don't you, Naruto?" Cana said in a drunken tone, her head drooping from side to side.

"_Or not…she's still drunk as hell." _Naruto sighed as he leaned his head backwards until it was comfortably pressing against the wooden bark. Then again, maybe he could use her drunken state to his advantage, even though he didn't like the thought of it. He was still wondering what could be troubling her from nearly a year ago.

"No, I don't like her." Cana tilted her head toward the blond and gave him a glare with drooping eyelids.

"Liiiiar. You're telling meee a lieee," she said, drawling out the words. Cana pointed her finger at Naruto's face before leaning closer and poking his forehead as she continued. "You two are almost alwaaaays together. And then, you alwaaaays help her, giving heeer faaavors and more."

"I help her because I can. She asked, so I help. Besides, I've help all four of you equally; I just used different ways since your styles are different." Naruto paused for a moment. The silence seemed to become suffocating between the two, so Naruto continued. "I help you because I want to, not just because I can. So…it's different." The blond turned away from the brunette with a small dust of pink across his cheeks, but the darkness hid it well. Cana, completely oblivious to Naruto's embarrassment and inexperience with women, pushed him further as she leaned closer to his side until they were right next each other.

"I don't seeeeee the difference. Besiiides, youuu still haven't answered my firsss question." She stated. Naruto sighed; why did this have to happen the night that he would leave? He couldn't leave a clone behind in the guild; obviously, it would disperse quickly; at most, it would last a month. Creating a clone that could survive like a normal human by the use of a seal was absolutely taboo; the reason why the Uzumakis never did so even though they knew they could was because it created a small paradox...or not that small really. The creation of a living clone of the person, not a normal clone, but a living clone that could live as long as the original and was as powerful as the original, would result in the death of someone in the world of the same age. The world knew there were a certain number of people, so suddenly adding another one would result in the death of another. Normal clones don't count as a human because they disperse quite quickly. Naruto cursed internally to himself; these stupid complicated topics were screwing with him.

"_Damn it, there are paradoxes everywhere! Kami, why are there so many stupid paradoxes? It's ridiculous!" _Naruto knew he was thinking too much, especially now when he was next to Cana, but he couldn't help it. There was too much running through his mind at the moment.

"Naarrrruto?" The blond broke out of his thoughts and sighed. If he was honest to himself…he was unsure whether he actually liked Cana or not. He might, he might not, but the feelings inside were questionable.

"_But what the hell am I hesitating for? If I was still in the Elemental Nations, I wouldn't wait because there was always the possibility I would die the next day. Here, it's not so possible but…there's still a possibility. Hell, I might disappear. And if I do, what happens then? Would she remember me? Or would I just be an ephemeral memory that disappears from her memory when I disappear from this alternate universe?" _ Naruto continued to remain silent, his thoughts warring back and forth in his mind. Cana grabbed onto Naruto's face by the sides and forced him to look at her. He broke out of his musings and stared in slight surprise at the straightforward girl. Cana looked straight up at him with a drunken expression, her face completely red, visible despite the darkness.

"Talk, you blond idiot." Naruto stared down at Cana with two raised eyebrows, his cheeks squished between her hands.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't press so hard, Cana. Even better would be if you would let go of my face," Naruto said in a surprisingly clear tone since his face was squished. The brunette shook her head repeatedly, her long wavy hair whipping back and forth from the motion.

"I don't wanna. Besides-" Cana began to rub her thumbs over the blond's whiskers. Naruto barely held in his feral instinct to purr. "-I wanted to touch your whiskers." The blond's cheeks twitched as he forced down his instinct to purr, but he couldn't prevent the dust to pink to spread across his cheeks.

"Cana, what do you want?" Naruto asked softly. He raised his hands to pull hers from his face, but she only squeezed his cheeks closer together and even harder when he gripped her wrists.

"You," she said bluntly. Naruto froze, his hands releasing their grip on Cana's wrists. Cana did the same, now only gently cupping his cheeks, her thumbs still rubbing over his whiskers. They stayed still for a few seconds, the silence starting to suffocate the two.

"Wh-what?" Naruto stuttered out. Cana's face became completely red, almost glowing in the darkness.

"It means I like you!" She suddenly shouted, her voice echoing in the clearing. Cana then dropped her head, her eyes glancing around the ground. "I like you…a lot."

"_Kami…are you screwing with me right now? Why the hell would this happen NOW?" _

"Cana, I don't-" That was as far as the blond got before Cana quickly lifted her head and forced Naruto's face to move towards hers. True, could have replaced himself with a log…but what the hell would that achieve? Naruto didn't exactly like playing with the idea of Cana making out with an inanimate object.

"_I hate you right now, Kami. My luck and timing is shit right now."_

Right before the two's lips met, Cana faltered and went to the right, her head dropping on the blond's left shoulder.

"Um, Cana?" Silence was the response. Naruto stayed still for a moment before shaking Cana lightly, and then moving her in front of him. Cana's head was still down, but Naruto was able to see her expression. She was drooling, and her face was still red from drunkenness and embarrassment, but she was asleep. Naruto let out a sigh of relief before thanking Kami, taking back his previous curse.

"It's not fair…" Cana suddenly said, but Naruto knew it was sleep talking. He sighed and carefully placed Cana on his back, throwing her arms over his shoulder and her legs over his arms so that she wouldn't fall off.

Instead of flashing to the guild hall, he decided to walk back, taking his time along the streets of the city; he enjoyed the party, but he was never a party person. No matter how much he had changed since his coming to Fiore, that was something that has not changed. It was night time, so there were a decent amount of people outdoors, which meant that all of them were able to see Naruto carrying Cana on his back in a piggy-back ride. Ignoring all of the surprised looks and glares, Naruto began to talk to himself.

"I…I don't really know how it really feels to _like_ someone." Naruto wasn't really lying when he said this. He thought he liked Sakura, but that was a childish crush. After that, he didn't really like…anybody really. He was forced to train, train, and train some more until he became an efficient ninja, capable of killing and shutting off his emotions when the time required it, despite the fact he preferred keep his emotions, even during missions.

"But liking means not just acceptance, but the complete acceptance of a person as a whole. Not just their good qualities, but their idiosyncrasies, their bad parts, their greed, their avarice, their soft nature…everything…even secrets." The blond paused in his mumblings as he continued to walk along the streets.

"_Heh, listen to me, talking as if I was an expert at this. Why am I even remotely interested in a relationship?" _Naruto raised his eyes and head when he heard the tell-tale signs of a loud bar fight some distance away. The lights of the building were a bright contrast to the darkness of the night, something he wanted to be for the guild. If they were ever in darkness, he would be their light. His resolves from last year had not changed; it had only changed from his small group of trusted precious people to the whole guild. Even the whole town. And if Oni or any of the chakra users, any dark mages, or any kind of mage came to attack his new "home", they would suffer the consequences.

Naruto wasn't old like the Sandaime, so he couldn't call the guild and the towns people his children. He wasn't Master, so he couldn't see them from the top. But mentally, by age and by strength, he saw the guild as he saw a growing flower. It had strong, deep roots, and needed nurturing and outside influences to help it to grow even stronger and beautiful. The outside influence did not have to be him; in fact, it could be even a detrimental force to make the mages to realize that the world was gray-scaled.

Naruto pushed Cana higher on his back when he felt her sliding down slightly into an uncomfortable position for the blond to carry. He looked over his shoulder to see Cana's sleeping face. She was still extremely flushed, her face literally glowing a crimson red color as she breathed slowly, her alcoholic breath invading his sense of smell. Take away the alcohol influence and the slightly disheveled hair on the left side of her face, and he saw that she was still the innocent girl he remembered that he met two years ago…and he would prefer to keep it that way for her, and for everyone else. He had kept his pain hidden from his eyes from fighting in one of the most devastating wars in the history of the Elemental Nations; a ninja had to know deception.

Naruto suddenly jumped into the air, carefully keeping Cana against his back when he landed on the side of the guild building next to a window. Opening it quickly, he jumped inside the infirmary room and immediately went next to the bed and placed Cana on it.

"Haven't I done this before?" Naruto said to himself, trying to remember. But for some reason, he couldn't. Probably was due to the extremely loud noise downstairs. Kami, he didn't like parties.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Fairy Tail Guild Hall)

"Are you sure? Are you really~ sure?" Natsu asked interrogatively. Mira closed her eyes and sighed for the tenth time before responding again to Natsu's question.

"I don't even know why I've put up with you so far and responded civilly instead of kicking your ass. Yes, Naruto is more like the caring little brother I don't have. I don't like him like that." Natsu pulled out an inspector's eyeglasses from nowhere before placing it on his eyes and staring at Mira, circling the girl multiple times before humming to himself.

"The glasses of inspections states that…you are LYING!"

"Natsu, you sound like an idiot," Naruto said from the door to the stairs that lead to the infirmary on the second floor. Mira, who was just about to blow up in irritation, took a deep breath before turning around to give Naruto a glare. He was the one that was making him go through all of this trouble right now. Naruto walked over to the group and smiled at Mira, laughing inwardly at her ire directed at him.

Natsu jumped excitedly in front of the blond and pointed at Mira.

"It's true. Me thinks she likes you!" Happy saluted from the dragonslayer's head and repeated Natsu's statement. Naruto sighed in response and looked over at Mira, who was somehow sporting a large sweatdrop, a deadpan stare, and a heavy glare with an air of death surrounding the girl.

"I don't like her." Naruto said quickly, but not in an annoyed or angry voice. Mira involuntarily flinched. It wasn't because she wasn't expecting that or that she liked him; it was just unexpected how forward and bluntly he stated his feelings. "She's more like an older sister…an extremely conceited and uncaring older sister. But then again, this whole family called Fairy Tail has their quirks." Natsu smiled before throwing his arm around Naruto's neck and pulling him towards the middle of the guild…where another bar fight had just started. Mira watched the two boys go off; Gray was somewhere else in the guild, fighting against Erza…and getting his ass kicked.

"So, that makes me your older brother, right?" Naruto thought about it for a second before responding.

"A very stupid older brother, yes." Natsu took the insult in stride, knowing that Naruto was joking.

"Oh yea? Then how do I act smart, then?" Without missing a beat, Naruto responded.

"Simple. Don't be stupid." The two turned to each other and smiled cheekily before Naruto jumped away from a flaming fist from Natsu. Naruto rolled his eyes in mock-exasperation and pointed at Natsu from across the guild. "Oh boy, the flaming idiot is insulted. Ready for round seven-hundred and thirty-eight?"

Natsu glared at Naruto with a wide smile on his face, who was calmly staring back with a smirk.

"Bring it on!" Needless to say, another bar fight began. Gildarts didn't have much time to enjoy his fourth casket of beer since it was destroyed by Naruto, resulting in a very irritated and drunk S-class mage joining in the fight. Good times, good times.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Borders of Magnolia Town)

**Play: This Is Why I Was Born**

It was the dead of night. The party had ended nearly an hour ago, and everyone in the guild was either knocked out or drunk out of their minds. Naruto had made sure to do two things before going back to his home. First, he made a **Hiraishin **seal on Gildarts just in case the man's mission went straight to shit. Second, Naruto copied all of the details of the S-class missions on the board from the second floor so that he could analyze it later on for future use.

Naruto sat still as the night went on, a dead set expression shadowing his face in the darkness. He was standing on top of a tree, staring at the town from above, the height giving him a perfect view of the town in complete darkness. Almost everyone had gone to sleep; there were a few stray lights on throughout the town.

The blond kept his serious blue eyes gazing at the town he had come to love. Maybe it wasn't as much as he loved Konoha, but he nonetheless loved the people and the town regardless. He had made new precious people and had changed his goals to reflect the new world. Naruto knew that there were consequences from his arrival, and he was more than willing to _take care _of them. After all, he was a ninja.

Starting tomorrow, he would begin his reconnaissance missions. He needed information, something he lacked in dreadful amounts. If there was something the old pervert had taught him in life other than ninja techniques, something completely useful to any single person in the world, was that a person needed information. Information, something that could save a person or end up in their death, was necessary because of the reason stated beforehand. A person with information was dangerous…deadly even because they could spread the information. Luckily, there was a counter to a person with information: don't show them everything, which is what Naruto had done. It was obvious he knew way more than what he told them master. His S-class status completely belied the true strength of the blond. But he would hide his strength until the moment was right; he knew now that there were people out in the world that were strong enough possibly to make him use all of his strength…currently. And maybe for a few more years. But he would hide it as well as he could until then. After all, he was a ninja.

There were many things that the blond had to do before he would be allowed to take a mission that would allow him to leave Fairy Tail for months, even years at a time. The first thing he had to do was become stronger, which he was doing everyday by training. The second thing he had to do was make his team into S-class mages so that they wouldn't have to rely on him for everything; if they relied on him all of the time, they wouldn't become individuals. They wouldn't become the best they could become. And when they had become the mage they wanted to become, then maybe by that time, Makarov would allow Naruto to leave for his personal mission.

Of course, the blond wouldn't tell Makarov the real reason why he wanted to take a long mission; he would make a lie, something that he could do easily. After all, he was a ninja…and deception was key.

Yes, many things changed about the blond, whether they were goals, dreams, ideas, attitudes, friends…but there was one thing that would forever stay the same. Well, there were many things, but to Naruto right now, the thing going through his mind was that he would always be a ninja. Not a mage. Two completely different, yet similar terms. They both fought, but one fought in the shadows, while the other fought head to head. One fought to kill, and the other fought to protect. True, Naruto fought to protect, and he believed that when a person had something very precious to protect, that he or she would become truly powerful. But he also understood…that killing was a necessity until true peace arrived…until everyone understood each other. But it seemed that the day that true peace arrived would be a long time coming; it had been a long time since his days of the Elemental Nations, and it was much better, but it wasn't perfect. Not yet.

But he hadn't given up on his dream…Ero-sennin's dream. That one day, peace would rule the land, and not discord. That every person would understand the other. Naruto turned away from the town to face the large expanse of land and mountains before him, but he didn't stare at the physical aspects in front of him. Rather, it was to face the whole world. Somewhere out there, was an obstacle to his dream. There were many steps to reach that aspiration, but when had the blond ever given up on something he truly desired? Madara couldn't even stop him when the blond was in front of Death's door. He would barrel through all of the impeding barriers standing in his way toward his dream.

And then maybe…just maybe…Naruto would finally be able to rest. To stop all of the meaningless fighting. To end everything once and for all. But until then, the blond would wait patiently. After all, he was a ninja. And ninjas needed patience. Not all results came immediately, but in fact came slowly.

Naruto turned around once more, facing the town, before raising his head to the sky. Somewhere up there, there was where he had fallen out of the past and had come into the future. But time was all relative. Now was the present and the future. And to someone later on, it would be a past.

Naruto raised his hand above his head, focusing a small amount of energy above his palm. Slowly, negative and positive matter appeared in small droplets, the red and blue energies converging and creating a small ball of ridiculous mass and power. Then, wind and water came together, at first a trickle and a drift, and then it slowly grew, but no larger than to create a slightly disturbance. He began to add fire, and the flames joined the wind and grew hot and wild. While adding a fourth element, his lightning affinity, however, the technique suddenly shut down.

Naruto dropped his hand to his side. but continued to stare up at the moon, his golden eyes turning back to his normal ocean blue eyes. His mind emptied of his former thoughts as it became a void of nothingness. It would take maybe another few years to perfect and become combat ready…but he had time. Time to train and time to prepare and plan. Time to gain information. Time to become stronger and understand his current situation. Time was something that was on his side…not on the side of the fake chakra users of this time. But he would remain patient. And when the time came to strike, he would take advantage of it to its fullest and more.

After all…he was a ninja.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N: So…I'm sleepy. Bye.**

**Oh, I have a question. If I did another crossover story, which anime or whatever story would you like me to write? Naruto has to be the first choice, sorry. Fairy Tail is allowed.**

**Secondly, if I did another Fairy Tail crossover, who do you want me to pair Naruto with?**

**Thirdly, I might take a slight break from this story. Reason? Fricking school. The bane of my existence currently. Worst…year…ever. After this year…FREEDOM! Key word: might.**


	11. Chapter 10: Natsu the Flame King

**Chapter 10: Natsu, The Flame King of Fairy Tail**

**A/N: WE ARE ON CANON TIME! YES!**

**Have to think. Maybe I should research paradoxes and timelines. It would be awesome if I was super knowledgeable on this topic. So guess what I'm going to do…research. It would be great if someone here knew a lot more than Wikipedia on time paradoxes to help me, haha.**

**Oh, okay. Everyone…we all know that going to the past screws up the future, right? Well, that might not be the case, depending on what kind of time paradox you believe in. Whatever, big deal. Naruto is in the****_future._****Right, so what does a time paradox to the****_future _****exactly entail? Currently, you are in the present, the past, and the future. Naruto went to the future, but time is****_relative_****. So…boom. Not mind blown. Okay…think of time as…a string. Just bear with me. Time is a string (yes, an object…for now). So, you tap it from one end (the past), and it affects every other part of the string (including the future). Easy enough, right? Okay, so imagine the string getting agitated from the other end (the future). It was affect all else, including the past, right? That's what I'm employing in this story. And before everyone goes all ape-shit on me about time-relativity and time theories like the grandfather clause and stuff, just live with it. I'm looking it up, but I'm not a professor, so sorry. I'm a high school student that just wants to write what's on his mind. There.**

**Information on the story: Since there is a huge time skip, we are starting canon. At this point, expect the main characters to be a bit OCC. After all, alternate universes usually result in different characteristics. But they'll retain their most prominent characteristics and traits, such as Natsu's exuberant and happy personality. Those will remain almost completely the same and untouched.**

**Also, Naruto will not be in some of the next chapters, instead focusing on the other characters and highlighting them for a while. I haven't given enough...uh...screen time(?) to the other characters like Natsu, Gray, and Cana. So, I'm going to focus on Natsu for this chapter. Yeah!**

**Disclaimer: Do I really…really have to do this? Fine…I'll make Naruto do it.**

**Naruto: Huh? But why? I'm not even really going to be in the next few chapters.**

**Me: I don't care. I'm too lazy. Just do it!**

**Naruto: ...I want to watch clouds though.**

**Me: ...Good idea. Hey Natsu, can you do the disclaimer?**

**Natsu: Yeah! Finally, I get to do it! Kenzo Shuyita doesn't own Fairy Tail, because he's not the master, and he doesn't own Naruto...because Naruto is a person...**

**Chapter 10 START**

**Year X784**

"Hargeon Port? I think this is it, Natsu!" Happy said. Natsu groaned in response from his spot on the train, suffering from a stomachache of epic proportions. He was doubled over on his seat, trying to become comfortable, but it was extremely difficult. Something important to know about dragonslayers: the stronger he is, the more he will feel uncomfortable with any kind of motion. Natsu, who was currently an S-class mage, was feeling the motion sickness quite heavily.

"Ugh…I don't think I can make it…" Natsu said in his misery, making another groan when the train suddenly stopped. The dragonslayer fell off of the seat and thudded on the car floor before speaking again. "It's finally over…the torture."

Happy jumped to the ground and started pulling on Natsu's sleeve to try and gain his attention.

"Let's go, Natsu. We don't want to miss our stop. You don't want me to use the medicine Naruto made for you, do you?" Natsu suddenly stood up, a stark contrast from his previous state from a moment before, but his face was pale with fixed lines of exertion. He forced himself to walk to the exit of the car and walk down the alleyways, barely making it out of the train before it left the station.

"…Never again. I can't understand how Naruto can cook so well but give me crap for medicine." Natsu said with a shudder. The blond had made a medicine to Natsu to deal with his motion sickness, and it worked wonders, but it was the most disgusting flavor that Natsu had ever tasted in his life. And considering the fact Natsu ate a large variety of food since he always grabbed whatever he considered food and ate it, the fact that the medicine was the most disgusting thing he had ever tasted said a _lot_.

"But he makes _really_good food!" Happy said on Natsu's shoulder, sitting on it with a large grin on his face. Natsu agreed to that statement whole-heartedly as he took his first steps into town, walking up the stairs from the station to enter the streets of the town. It was the generic town; the floors were made of cobblestones and the buildings were made with an amalgam of construction materials: wood, metal, nails, and other specific materials. Natsu found himself smiling as he walking around town, taking in the air and the sights, especially the large ocean, its waves lightly crashing against the port and beach.

Suddenly, Natsu's ears twitched as he heard feminine screaming, but it wasn't from fear. He immediately blanched before sighing and pinching his nose, closing his eyes. But he had to do it; the location of screaming probably had a large congregation of people, meaning his best chance to get information was currently at the location of the cursed thing called fangirls.

"Are you going to go there, Natsu?" Natsu sighed again and nodded his head.

"Yeah, but I really wish I didn't." Ever since Natsu had become an S-class mage, he had entered the Sorcerer's Magazine and had quickly become popular due to his cheerful personality. It helped that he was also attractive to the majority of the ladies, and his pink hair, for some reason, attracted even more. This brought about the bane of Naruto's, and now Gray's and Natsu's, existence: fangirls.

At first, Natsu was okay with it, basking in the attention and gloating his rise to S-class…until he realized how crazy the fangirls truly were. Seriously, finding out where he lived and surrounding his house with signs and posters of his face was…a somewhat traumatic experience for the dragonslayer. It only got worse when Natsu entered the top ten list for mages women would want as their boyfriends; he actually began to feel bad for his prank against Naruto in the past.

The fiery-haired dragonslayer sighed again before quickening his pace, wanting to get over with what was going to happen next. A few minutes of walking, the sounds of fangirlism and exuberant and excited chattering entered his ears before he even saw the large crowd, but one thing was a constant.

"It's Salamander!" Natsu's eyes twitched. Suddenly, he stopped, thinking about it for a second, his finger pressing against his chin as his eyes drifted upwards to the sky. "Do they mean Igneel? I hope so…" The pink-haired dragonslayer's eyes gained a glint of hope as he again increased in pace to reach the epicenter of the screaming. When he saw the large group which consisted of mainly girls, he balked.

'_That's…a lot of girls. I think I'll use_**_Transformation Magic_**_to make sure I don't get noticed. But I know it's not Igneel now…because he's a dragon…sooooo, who the hell is this Salamander?'_

Natsu quickly transformed his face and clothing, changing into a nondescript person. Changing his spiky pink hair into black, and his eyes to coal-colored eyes. His clothes changed from the standard clothes and sandals of Natsu to something Naruto would wear; he wore a long black coat with, his pants turning into long black jeans, his sandals changing to light blue shoes. With his transformation completely, he shoved his way through the crowd of girls, receiving some rude remarks and exclamations, but he ignored it until he reached the front, dropping to his knees when he was suddenly pushed and ended up right in front of the Salamander.

Natsu's hopeful grin immediately vanished when he saw the person the girls were calling Salamander. That wasn't Igneel…obviously, but who the hell was this guy? The spiky-blonde-haired man had a sort of black cape that was only tied at his neck. There was a white collared shirt under the cape made him seem formal, but Natsu didn't care.

"Who the hell are you?" Natsu asked bluntly, his eyes boring into the man's own. Immediately picking up his flair, the blond-haired man smirked and pointed at himself.

"You may know me as Salaman-hey, where are you going?" The man didn't even get to finish when he saw that the transformed Natsu was already trudging away from the crowds slowly with a cat bent over in a sorrowful position on his shoulder, a stark contrast from the women smiling at him with hearts in their eyes.

"Hey, you're so rude to Salamander."

"He's a great mage!"

"Apologize to him!"

A few of he girls around the edges of the crowd grabbed onto his scarf or the edges of his clothing, pulling him back to the epicenter of the crowd unceremoniously.

"It's alright girls. He didn't mean it," Salamander said in a calming manner, winking at the girls in a show of flair. The girls soaked it in as they screamed and swooned. He pulled out a whiteboard and marker and quickly wrote something on it, handing it to Natsu, who was calmly and lamely staring up at the man from the floor.

"What now?" Natsu asked in a tired tone. The man ignored it as he gave Natsu the whiteboard, handing him his…signature?

"Here, I'll give my signature to you. Show it off to your _friends_," he said, finishing with a silent undertone of haughtiness. All of the girls swooned again, speaking about their envy of the dragonslayer who was receiving the famous Salamander's signature. However, instead of accepting it with excitement and happiness, Natsu simply turned around on his knees and said –

"I don't want it." Suddenly, Natsu found himself thrown out of the circle and skidding against the town's street. However, the pain of skidding on his neck and stomach didn't hurt as much as the disappointment he felt building up in his stomach; he had been waiting for so long to see his dad.

"It wasn't him…" he mumbled to himself before shakily getting back up and turning around, watching the mage say some words about a party at the port before snapping his fingers and flying away on a flaming cloud, leaving with many of the girls promising to be at the party. Natsu clicked his tongue in distaste.

"_That…is some of the ugliest and worst made fires I have ever seen."_

"What is he?" Natsu said quietly, staring up at where the man was last seen before disappearing from his vision.

"He is really disgusting."

Natsu turned around and saw an…extremely beautiful girl with blonde hair, one ponytail on the side of her head. She was extremely curvaceous with large breasts, and his clothes weren't hiding that fact, but rather accentuating that detail. Her shorts were high on her thighs, but Natsu ignored it.

"Hmm?" The girl smiled at him.

"Thanks for earlier." Natsu raised his eyebrows. Happy just stared up at the girl with a questioning look on his face.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Restaurant in Hargeon Port)

"Bleh blah uzurl blah (You're a nice person)." Natsu said as he continued to chew and glug on his food, eating without restraint. Happy was doing the same, but he was complaining about the quality of the fish.

"Haha, it's okay. But can you please not eat like that?" Lucy asked, although she received no response or any change from his actions. Natsu suddenly stopped grabbing food and swallowed before talking to his faithful Exceed partner, who Lucy thought was just a talking cat. It had surprised her at first that the cat could talk, but this was a world of magic! Anything was possible.

"You know the fish will never be as good as his, Happy. Restaurants just don't make it the way you want," Natsu pointed out before grabbing a large piece of chicken and biting out a large chunk and began to chew with enthusiasm. The flavor suited him at least. Natsu glanced down and saw Happy pretending to be a dinosaur this time as he ate his fish, or more specifically, like a T-Rex. The Exceed was smashing his head against the fish, pretending that his arms were too small to grab onto the food. Natsu immediately spit out the food in his mouth out of laughter, and it shot out straight forwards…to Lucy.

"Ugh…" The blonde said in disgust, wiping off the grime and food off of her clothes and face with a napkin. However, she managed to keep a smile on her face as she continued to talk, despite the fact that Natsu and his partner had already created a hole in the blonde's wallet.

"That Salamander guy was using a magic called **Charm**, a magic that was banned several years ago because it causes other people's hearts to be attracted to the caster," the Lucy said in contempt. She looked out the window and stared at the streets as her eyebrows furrowed in her increasing disgust. "But trying to get girls with magic…especially banned magic…how disgusting." Suddenly, the girl's demeanor changed as her tense face took on a smile as she turned back to the duo. "But because you two jumped in, the magic wore off on me."

"I zee…(I see…)," Natsu said with his mouth full, not really paying attention. The food was top priority at the moment. Fill his stomach, talk later. Lucy ignored the fact that Natsu didn't seem to be paying attention and continued.

"I may not look like this, but I'm a mage, too. I'm looking at guilds and want to be part of one. I'll get to take missions, and I heard there are some really strong guilds out there…especially the one I want to join." Natsu just continued to listen silently as he ate his large meal, now guzzling down a drink before slamming the cup down on the table and asking for more.

"That's cool," Natsu said, waiting for his drink to come before starting on his meal once more; he was only halfway through the plates that filled the table. Lucy had stared at the transformed Natsu incredulously when he had ordered so much food, but was shocked to find that he was actually able to eat it with no problem. Not only that, but the speed at which the dragonslayer ate was…scary.

"So…why are you here?" Lucy said, trying to start a conversation with the "black-haired" nondescript person who had helped her. Natsu looked up and smiled widely.

"I was looking for Igneel!"

"Who's Igneel?" Lucy asked, thankful that he had finally responded to something or started a conversation.

"He's my dad," Natsu immediately replied. Saying that his dad was a dragon was a bit…stupid even on his terms currently. Naruto had forced some common sense into the somewhat dull dragonslayer's head…before he left. Well, he always returned, but two years ago, the blond S-class mage left and hadn't come back to the guild since…ever since he saved Gildarts during the man's SS-class mission.

"Ah…well, I hope you find him. What's your name?" Lucy asked mainly out of courtesy.

"Natsu," he replied, not saying his last name lest he gather the attention of possible fangirls. Kami, those things were everywhere! They were worse than the media for Kami's sake. No matter what, he couldn't shake them off somehow.

"Well, thanks for saving me, Natsu. I'll be leaving. Bye!" Lucy said as she placed some money on the table before getting up and walking away. Suddenly, Natsu and Happy got off of their seats and started bowing on the restaurant floor.

"THANK YOU! WE ARE NOT WORTHY! THANK YOU!"

"Stop that!" Lucy shouted in embarrassment before running out of the establishment. Natsu and Happy stopped bowing as soon as the blonde left and looked at each other before cracking up, laughing without reserve. They didn't care if the customers were staring at them; they could stare all they want, but they can't ruin a good time.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Somewhere in Hargeon Town)

"Haha, these guys are too much! Man, I really want to be in Fairy Tail now. It just seems so great…and free." Lucy looked up at the sky and raised her hand to block the small glare that was flickering into her eyes. "Yeah…being a Fairy Tail mage would be the best, huh? And they have some pretty amazing people, too!"

"I see. So you wish to be part of Fairy Tail?" Lucy immediately went on guard, closing her magazine and turning around swiftly to see who had snuck up on her.

"What do you want?" She asked as soon as she saw Salamander, glaring at the man. In response, he just raised his hands in a sign of peace before speaking again.

"I just wanted someone beautiful like you to be at the party. It would be a shame if you didn't come, hmm?" He said with one of his eyebrows raised in a provoking manner. Lucy held in her disgust when she responded.

"Don't think you can fool me. I know you used **Charm**magic on all those girls. The problem with that magic is knowledge, and since I know that you used it, it won't work on me." If anything, Lucy's statement seemed to make the Salamander grin even wider.

"Perfect. I knew you were a mage the moment I saw you! That's perfect!"

"How is it perfect that I know that you were using a banned magic on the girls back at the town area?" she asked. Salamander smirked again, his grin becoming even wider.

"Because I'm a part of Fairy Tail." Lucy's eyes immediately widened in surprise. This man was a part of Fairy Tail, the guild that constantly creates destruction and havoc, but also one of the most powerful guilds of Fiore?

"You're a part of Fairy Tail?" She asked just to make sure she heard correctly.

"That's right. I'm the Salamander of Fairy Tail. So, if you come to the party and keep the magic thing our little secret, I'll put a good word in for you with the master so that you can get in." It didn't even take a moment to think for Lucy to respond.

"Of course!" The blond male smiled and snapped his fingers before disappearing on his flame cloud, but not before saying –

"I'll be waiting then."

Lucy took a moment to watch him fly away before thinking to herself.

"_It's just to get into Fairy Tail. I'll deal with that idiot to get in."_Suddenly, her expression lightened when she smiled brightly.

"Fairy Tail! I'm going to finally be a part of Fairy Tail!"

**XShuyaX**

(Time Skip: Two hours)

"Man, I'm full! That meal was good!" Natsu said as he patted his stomach. He and Happy were now walking along the streets, basking in the afternoon twilight. The sun was slowly going over the ocean in a lazy arc, its orange light reflecting against the water's surface, creating something beautiful that couldn't even be described by the viewer. It was as if flames were dancing on the water's surface, never staying still for more than a moment.

"Aye!" Happy said, patting his stomach in the same motion. The two decided to walk around the town until the last train came to take them back to Magnolia Town. Part of the reason was to enjoy the rest of the day and just relax, and the second reason was because Natsu wanted to put off the pain of riding on a train for a long as possible.

For nearly half an hour, the two ambled through the streets without any sense of direction, simply walking towards whatever seemed to have the most attraction or appeal. After a while, the duo got bored and decided to start heading back up to the train station until they heard two girls gossiping on the party that the Salamander was hosting.

"Did you hear?" One of the girls began in an overly exuberant tone. "The great mage Salamander is hosting a party on one of his boats at the port!"

"Really?!" Natsu and Happy both clamped their hands over their ear from the sudden shriek before slowly releasing their holds, grimacing slightly in pain from their sharpened senses. The two then began to walk again, but at a slightly quicker pace, wanting to get away from the two strident girls. "Wow…I wish I could've gone."

"Yeah, me too," the first girl said remorsefully before perking back up again. "Oh yeah. I even heard he's a part of that famous guild called Fairy Tail!"

Stop. Natsu's ears barely picked it up, but he heard it.

"_What? He said he's a part of my guild?"_

Natsu looked down at Happy, the Exceed staring up at him with a serious expression. Then, the two nodded in unison before turning their gaze to the boats on the port.

"Happy…pass me the disgusting medicine. We have a party to crash."

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Boat)

Lucy's first impression of the party was that whoever set it up really did not hold back at all. There were tables with tablecloth, a plethora of fine wine, food, and refreshments, and even entertainments. Some people on the side of the boat were playing a variety of relaxing and enjoyable music to set the mood of the party.

Not only that, but all of the people at the party was dressed formally, giving the party a feeling of elegance. But then again, Lucy was used to these sorts of events due to their family status…but no one needed to know that. Either way, she somewhat enjoyed herself for the first half hour of the party, but the possibility of joining Fairy Tail was much more exciting to her than the party.

Currently, she was inside one of the rooms inside of the ship, sitting on a couch as she made small talk with Salamander.

"So your name is Lucy, huh? Such a pretty name," he said in a flirtatious tone. The pretty blonde took it in stride, smiling and thanking him.

"Thank you," she said with a cute tilt of the head. The blond haired man nodded before raising his right hand, a glass of wine held up by two fingers on the stem.

"You're welcome. So…how about we start this evening together with a glass?" Lucy raised her eyebrows, but she wasn't totally new to the idea of drinking. She had drunk wine before, but it wasn't as delicious or addicting as she had first expected. Besides, sweets were better, way better.

"Don't you have to attend to your other guests?" Salamander just shook his head with his eyes closed, as if he were speaking with a child.

"I just felt like I wanted to have a drink with you, someone that is so pretty. Here," he said, snapping his fingers. Some droplets in the glass of the wine rose in the air. Lucy watched in slight fascination. Then, it slowly started moving towards her face. "Try opening your mouth; they'll come in one by one." Lucy inwardly screamed in frustration; she just wanted to finally be a part of Fairy Tail! When would this idiot let her join the guild? But she relented, opening her mouth slightly.

"_Just a little longer. If I deal with this guy a little longer, I can finally be a part of Fairy Tail. Come on, Lucy, you waited for so long. Just a few hours couldn't hurt, right?"_

However, right before the droplets entered her mouth, she suddenly moved back, pressing her back against the couch before swiping in her hand in front of her. Then, she stood up and glared at the man in front of her.

"This is a sleeping drug, isn't it? What are you planning?" she asked in an angry tone. Salamander just smirked in her face, immediately changing his smile into a sinister, sickening grin.

"Oh, and how did you know?" he asked tauntingly. Lucy ignored the tone and increased her glare.

"Don't get me wrong; I want to join Fairy Tail. But I have absolutely no intention at all of becoming your girl. Are we clear?" she said, trying to set her own stipulations. Lucy knew what would have happened if she fell asleep. She would've waken up sometime later…and possibly in a bed and room that she didn't know.

Salamander's smirk widened even more as he leaned forwards, grinning savagely. For some reason, the lights in the room seem to darken with his character as his face became shadowed.

"You've been a bad girl, Lucy. If you had fallen asleep peacefully, everything would have gone smoothly. But since you've been bad, you need to be punished…" he finished, leaving the girl wondering what he meant.

"What are you talking ab-AH!" Suddenly, two powerful hands grabbed onto her arms, preventing her from moving from her position. She turned to see what was behind her to find that the curtain behind was removed, revealing multiple large men with ugly smirks plastered on her face.

"Nice job, Salamander-san! This one's real pretty!" The man gripping her left arm said.

"We haven't had one that was so pretty in a while," the other hulking man to her right said, saying the words in a certain tone that sent a bad shiver down the blonde's spine. She didn't like where this was heading towards, and it was going down that path fast.

Lucy looked forwards and heatedly glared at Salamander.

"Who are you?! What are you doing?!" She yelled at him, unable to understand why they were placing her in such a position. Before he responded, Salamander moved up closer to her and gripped her face by the cheeks with one hand before leaning in close so that their faces were only inches apart.

"Welcome to our _slave_ ship. I must ask that you remain…silent until we reach Bosco." Lucy's breath hitched when he said the word slave, but her heartbeat was drumming when he said Bosco.

"Wait, why Bosco?! What happened to Fairy Tail?!" She asked in a frightened tone. The next words made her dreams shatter and crash to the depths of despair, the abyss of impossibility.

"I told you…this is a _slave_ship, not a ship to Fairy Tail. You were never meant to join Fairy Tail in the first place!" Salamander said in a chaotic tone, his voice becoming more sadistic by the word until he was cackling as he talked. "I BROUGHT YOU IN AS MERCHANDISE, A TOOL FOR MEN, FOR PLEASURE! HAHAHA!" Suddenly, he stopped cackling and laughing, but the smirk never left his face as he leaned in once more. "Just…give…up, little lady."

Lucy could only stare back at the man with a dumb gaze in her face. She had been completely duped. Instead of spending the next few years enjoying life in a guild…she would be spending her days with men…never the same man for more than day. Disgust at the man in front of her and anger at her own self started growing in the pit of her stomach. The possibility of joining the guild she had always wanted to be a part of had blinded her to the maliciousness of the man in front of her.

"You thought this out well, Salamander-san," the man behind her said. "When girls fall for your charm, they all fawn over to you and become perfect merchandise. Hehe…such an easy job."

"But…it seems that the **Charm**won't work on this little lady here. So, should we _train_her _a little_?" The implications of his words were clear. The whole time the men behind her discussed what they would do to her body to _train her_, Lucy's head went further and further down. This couldn't be her reality, could it? Just a few hours ago, she was enjoying a meal with a stranger named Natsu.

"_I wish that he was the Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail."_If she couldn't do anything now or look forward to her future, she could at least wish for something from her past. She couldn't grab her keys since her arms were unable to be moved from the iron grip of her possessors currently.

Useless…she had never felt so useless before. Pain. Sadness. Loneliness. But not uselessness. There was nothing she could do in this situation.

"_Why…would someone do this? How can they…do something like this?"_

Salamander moved even closer, patting her over and reaching into the cut in her revealing dress, before his eyes brightened when he heard a jingle of keys. Pulling out what he found, he was slightly surprised at what he saw but smirked nonetheless. She really was a mage.

"The Keys of the Gates…so you're a stellar spirit mage, hmm?" The blonde slaver said mainly to himself. The men holding onto Lucy and behind her heard him, their interest piqued.

"Wait, what's a Stellar Spirit? We don't know anything about magic," one of them said. Salamander just shook his head; they were wasting time. By this time, all the women on the boat should have been subdued and primed for their slave trade.

"Don't worry about it. Only contracted mages can use this," he said, jingling the keys in the air, twirling with the ring before suddenly throwing it out of the window, a splash indicating the keys falling into the ocean…into the empty abyss. Lucy felt the same as her keys, her heart and hopes absolutely sinking into despair. Now there was _truly_nothing she could do. She was in no ways physically powerful, and she had no other real magic other that her Celestial Keys. Tears brimmed around her eyes as her hopelessness resounded in her chest.

"_So…this is a mage of Fairy Tail…the guild I've been dreaming for so long to join."_She heard Salamander say that she was about to be branded as a slave, but she was more focused on her thoughts. She just wanted to be alone…but that would probably never happen in her life again. To be with men, forced with them for _money_, for her life and until death or until she became useless…that would be her future.

Hope…would probably never happen again to her.

"BASTARDS!" Suddenly, the top of the room crashed inwards, wooden planks and pieces of metal falling to the ground. Lucy recognized the person that dropped to the ground immediately.

"Natsu?!" She asked, wiping away her tears. The men holding onto her arms had let go in their surprise; even Salamander had backed off in surprise, staring at the intruder. Maybe…she could hope. But, was he even a mage? What could he do in this situation when he was outnumbered against mages and men with strength?

"The brat from earlier?" Salamander yelled in surprise, pointing at Natsu, who slowly got up from the ground after crashing on the ground. He raised his fist from the cratered floor, glaring at the men in front of him. He wasn't an idiot; he immediately knew what was happening in a moment when he took a quick glance at his surroundings and the room. Not only that though, but he heard one word before crashing through the roof with his enhanced hearing: slave. That was more than enough to make him enraged when he saw that the girl he had met was becoming slaved by the men in front of him. Putting two and two together in this situation was not difficult at all for Natsu.

"Happy," the dragonslayer said with an air of authority. The Exceed saluted to the still transformed S-class mage before using a short burst of magic to bring out his wings. Suddenly, Happy moved, and in a burst of speed, was in the air with Lucy in tow.

"Huh?" Lucy said. But she felt it. Just like as she was physically being lifted from the ground, her hope of rising. She would escape. Now…if she could just possibly get her keys somewhere in the ocean, then all the girls could possibly be freed as well.

Salamander regained his bearings quickly; seeing someone crashing through the roof was a surprise, but seeing a talking cat with _wings_was definitely even more jaw-dropping. He shot a large flame at the flying duo, but his flames missed by a small margin. He gritted his teeth in annoyance before turning to his subordinates.

"Don't let that woman get away! It'll be a problem for us if she reports this to the council members or the Rune Knights!" Salamander said authoritatively. Instead of moving to stop the men, Natsu stared on, his arms crossed over his chest. He trusted Happy would easily be able to deal with these guys, even with their projectiles.

"Oh, look. It's a gun!" Happy said, his eyes flicking downwards from the air. Lucy looked down and immediately shrieked when she heard the report of a bullet whizzing through her ear. Happy didn't seem to be fazed at all by this dangerous situation. If anything, he seemed to smirk instead of smile. "Shall we dance, Lucy?" Suddenly, the Exceed began to drop towards the ocean, twisting and spinning quickly through the air, easily dodging the bullets the men shot their way. Training with Naruto and Cana had taught him how to dodge projectiles. He didn't want to be a burden to Natsu and wanted to be on an S-class mission, so when he asked Naruto to train him, the blond threw a dozen blunted weapons at the Exceed in response. That was the beginning of Happy's training.

"Wait, Happy! Can you drop me in the ocean right about there?" Lucy said, pointing her finger near the side of the boat. The cat-like Exceed nodded quickly and flew over towards the area, still spinning and twirling in the air as they dodged multiple bullets. Lucy felt sick from the flips and spins, but she would hold her own. She had to, if she was to save the girls. They were counting on her!

"You all…sicken me to the stomach," Natsu said in an angry tone. Suddenly, the slavers remembered the dragonslayer that was still in the room and turned to him, immediately pointing their guns at him. Natsu didn't even flinch. "Slaving people…drugging them…and even branding them?! You're lucky I'm not _him_, or all of you would've been screwed within a second. I'm still sending you to the Rune Knights…" Suddenly, Natsu slammed his fist and open palm together in front of his chest. "-but you're not going there without a few injuries."

Salamander 'tch'ed in annoyance and pointed at Natsu, whose face had become completely serious with taints of anger. "Kill him! Shoot at him." He ordered. The men immediately shot at him at the same time, but Natsu simply turned and flipped out of harm's way without even batting an eyelash.

"_So predictable where they're aiming."_

**Click Click Click Click**

Natsu smirked as he landed on the floor. _"And they're out of bullets."_

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Outside of the boat)

"HA!" Lucy took a large breath to fill up her almost empty lungs and raised her hands.

"Are you alright, Lucy?" Happy asked, dropping low so that he was almost on the water's surface. Then, his wings disappeared as he dropped onto her head. Lucy smiled.

"Yup, I'm fine." She quickly went through the keys in her raised hand and found the one she was specifically looking for. "Open! A door to the Treasure Vase Palace: **Aquarius!**" Suddenly, in a flash of light, a mermaid-like women with a large vase appeared. She was wearing a bikini and had somewhat long hair. There were multiple jewelry on her body, but the most noticeable was the one that was on er forehead, holding her hair up, giving her a kind of Egyptian look.

"WOAH!" Happy said in surprise. Lucy smiled.

"I'm a **Stellar Spirit**mage, so I can summon beings from other worlds!" The blonde turned to **Aquarius.**"Now, **Aquarius**! Use your powers to send the boat back to the port!" The summoned being acted as if it didn't hear for a few moments before responding.

"Tch." A tic mark made its way to Lucy's forehead.

"Did you just 'tch' me? Huh?!" Lucy said in childish irritation, forgetting about her situation for a moment.

"You're such a noisy brat." **Aquarius**turned away from Lucy and stared at the boat in silence before speaking again with a serious tone. "Let me tell you one thing. Don't _ever_ drop the keys again, I'll kill you," the spirit said in an ominous tone.

"…H-hai," Lucy responded, frightened by **Aquarius'**irritation and anger. The spirit nodded quickly before –

"ORRAAA!" She swung her vase like a baseball bat. Suddenly, a huge wave rose from the ocean, taking the boat, Lucy, and Happy in its wash.

"Damn it! I didn't mean send me on the wave!" Lucy shouted in indignation.

"Wow, I get to ride on a tsunami!" Happy said with glee, which was completely random. Lucy would've deadpanned and sweatdropped at the Exceed if she wasn't riding an enormous wave currently.

As soon as the boat and the two crashed onto the port, Lucy dismissed **Aquarius**, although she was slightly irritated that the water spirit was showing off the fact she had a boyfriend. Then, the two quickly ran to the boat, ignoring the outbursts from the spectators on the port, and ran up the stairs and into the room where they were sure that a confrontation was about to occur between Natsu and the slavers.

"-you can't do anything to me. I'm in a legal guild, Fairy Tail! If you harm me, you'll just be punished by the Rune Knights! Besides, brat, it's common courtesy to not get onto other people's boats without permission." Lucy and Happy opened the doors and saw Natsu slowly getting up, his face showing some signs of unease. The Exceed immediately connected it to motion sickness; the large wave would've overridden the medicine Naruto had created for the dragonslayer. However, now that the rocking of the ship had subsided, he should be fine now.

"Ah…right, there was that. Look at me in the eyes, mage of Fairy Tail…" Natsu said seriously without a single ounce of unease in his voice. The dragonslayer stared at Salamander closely, ignoring the men rushing at him from the front. Lucy was about to summon a spirit, but Happy stopped her.

"Don't worry. Natsu is a mage…an extremely strong mage," he said with pride in his voice.

"Natsu's a mage? A strong one?" She asked in surprise. Happy smirked as he nodded his head, his eyes shining as if he knew a secret that the blonde girl didn't. Suddenly, Natsu disappeared inside a cloud of smoke. The two men charging at him stopped in their tracks in surprise. Natsu, taking advantage of this moment, gripped one man on the side of the head in a vice-like grip, and then slammed it into the other charging man's head. They both dropped to the ground unconscious.

When the smoke cleared, all that was left was Natsu back in his original form with a visage of clear anger on his face. "I've never seen you before!" Natsu said accusingly.

Two of the men behind Salamander sharply inhaled, recognizing Natsu immediately. Lucy did as well, recognizing the scarf and the rosy-colored hair; if any girls interested in mages or magic didn't recognize those characteristics, then they were completely out of the loop.

"Bora-san! I recognize him!" Both of them said in surprise. "Bora" turned to the slavers behind him.

"What the hell! Don't say my name now!" He said, berating them for their idiotic mistake. If they were caught now, there was no way for them to get off easily.

"Bora…Bora of Prominence. He was banished from a mage guild called Titan Nose a few years ago." Lucy nodded her head slowly, still getting over the shock of having eaten with THE Natsu Dragneel, the Flame King of Fairy Tail, a part of the generation of elites.

"I don't care if you're good or bad…you used our name, and I _can't_forgive you for that!" Natsu said as his magic levels began to rise. Bora, however, seemed to regain his bearings and suddenly shot a large blast of fire at Natsu, completely covering the dragonslayer in flames. Bora smirked, thinking it was over. None of the others agreed. Lucy was worried, but not nearly as much as she would have been for any other person; Natsu was named the Flame King for a reason. If anything, she was more worried for Bora and his slavers than anyone else.

"Disgusting…is this really fire? It's worse than Naruto's medicine. Even Naruto made better fire than this when he first started learning it as a new magic," Natsu said from inside the flames. Slowly, the flames seemed to circulate around the dragonslayer, slowly dissipating until it flowed into his…mouth? "Whatever, I'll eat whatever I can get."

"What the hell! Is he eating fire?!" Everyone shouted in surprise except for Happy, whose smile was widening until it was similar to a Cheshire grin.

"Haaa…itadakimasu…but that still sucked." Natsu said with a tone of disgust in his voice; the awful fire had left a bad aftertaste in his mouth. It even smelled bad. Natsu changed his facial expression back to serious concentration as he breathed in a lungful of air, his magical energy rising. "Let me show you _real_fire! **Fire Dragon's…**"

Bora and the men behind him were stuttering in their fear; some were trying to run away from the pink-haired mage. Either way, there was no way for them to get out of range of Natsu's calculated attack. Red and blue flames started to flick around Natsu's mouth, licking around the air, swirling and increasing in mass until it exploded forwards in an explosive velocity of red and crimson.

"**-Roar**!"

The blast shot forwards, plowing through all of the men and through the boat, even moving past the port and to the ocean, cutting through the water and creating a semicircular area where the water was cut out. When Natsu had finished with his attack, he shot forwards on the balls of his feet, rushing straight at Bora with his fists aflame.

"**Salamander's Iron Fist**!" The punch connected solidly on the blond man's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the man as he went flying into the air, breaking through the ceiling, taking pieces of wood and metal along with him.

Lucy was still staring n shock. One of Fairy Tail's elites was here. She had _met_and _eaten_with Natsu Dragneel! The only way her day could've been better was if –

"Come on, we're getting out of here!" Nastu shouted at Happy as he grabbed Lucy's hand and rushed out of the ship. As soon as the small group of three got out of the ship, they bolted for the streets. Well, Happy was flying while Natsu dragged Lucy in tow as they saw the Rune Knights just coming into the scene of destruction. They weren't there for the destruction; only the ship was destroyed, although the ranged fire attack Natsu had let out had gained the attention of the Rune Knights as well. However, the main reason they were at the port because they had heard news from an unknown source that Bora was the one hosting the party and had immediately become suspicious.

"Wait, where are we going?" Lucy asked. Natsu turned around to face her and smiled.

"You wanted to join a guild, right? Why don't you join Fairy Tail?" Natsu said, a bright smile on his face that showed his small canines. Lucy widened her eyes before a wide grin made its way to her face.

"Yeah!"

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Train)

The trio was heading back on Magnolia on a train, but Natsu was starting to show signs of motion sickness, meaning that the medicine was wearing off.

"What's wrong, Natsu?" She asked in concern. It didn't make sense to her how he seemed to be in pain when he hadn't even taken a hit.

"Eeeeehhhhh…" Natsu groaned in response, his hands rubbing his stomach slowly.

"There's nothing wrong with him. He just has motion sickness. It's a side effect of being a dragonslayer," Happy said from next to Natsu with a smile on his face. Lucy raised her eyebrows; that was a magic and term she had never heard of before.

"What's a dragonslayer?" She asked in interest. Happy looked at Natsu before looking back up at Lucy.

"A dragonslayer is what Natsu. He was trained by a dragon, and it's the only magic that can kill a dragon. It's why he was able to eat fire back on the ship against Bora," Happy explained. Lucy's eyes widened to extreme measures when she heard the word dragon.

"He was raised by a dragon?!" She said, shock lacing her words. The cat was lying, right? Dragons didn't exist…right?

Instead of denying it or saying that he was joking, Happy nodded his head.

"Yup! He was looking for his dad at the town, but he wasn't there. Well, it makes sense, I guess. How could a dragon be in a town and not be noticed?" he said rhetorically, a smile still on his face as he mused to himself. This would've been the time Lucy should have been freaking out that Natsu's dad was a dragon, but she was more surprised that Happy and Natsu even assumed that a dragon wouldn't have gathered massive attention from a town; for Kami's sake, that would gather the attention of the whole world!

"That's…nice, I guess," Lucy said with a sweatdrop.

"Aye!" Happy said with enthusiasm before hopping onto Natsu's stomach and making himself comfortable before he began to snore. The blonde stared at the cat-like talking being before pulling out a magazine from her bag. It wasn't exactly new, but that wasn't the reason why she kept it. It was a somewhat old magazine since it was about two years old, but it was Lucy's favorite since it had her favorite articles and pictures of Fairy Tail. In a way, it inspired her to become stronger.

Finding the right page, Lucy smiled as she stared down at the picture. There were seven people standing in front of the guild, each person with a different kind of smile on his or her face. Erza was standing off to the side with her armor glistening in the sun, a smirk on her face. However, she seemed to be irritated at something occurring to her left. Laxus was in the back of the group since he was the tallest, but he was almost laughing at the two in front of him. Gray and Natsu were punching each other, their arms a blur in the picture. Mira was on the other end of the picture. She was the only one smiling with a bubbly personality; she was wearing a white sundress. And finally, Naruto and Cana were smiling, but it seemed as if they were deadpanning at the group while the camera flashed for the picture.

It made Lucy laugh so hard when she first saw the picture. Flipping to the next page, there was an in-depth article on each of the seven teenage S-class mages of Fairy Tail. They were dubbed the generation of elites, the most powerful generation…the King and Queens of Fairy Tail. She took a short moment to read each of the descriptions.

**The Generation of Elites:**

**Naruto: the Storm King of Fairy Tail.**

**_Youngest S-Class Mage in the history of Fiore, achieving his rank by the age of thirteen. An extremely powerful mage with versatile abilities, he has taken out dozens of dark guilds singlehandedly, bringing down the rate of crimes noticeably. However, no one has seen this handsome mage for nearly two years. He was ranked first for the mage women and girls would like as their boyfriend for a period of time; currently, he is sixth, still a high contender for the top spot despite his long disappearance._**

**Cana: the Cards Queen of Fairy Tail.**

**_An expert in the use of Cards Magic. This brunette mage is more than she looks, so don't let her cute looks fool you. Her looks completely belie her strengths. How strong is she? She is an S-Class Mage, having achieved her rank at the age of sixteen, one of the youngest mages to ever achieve that rank. An interesting thing to note about Cana is that she cannot drink alcohol; whenever she tries to grab any kind of alcoholic drink, the liquid moves away from her. She assumes that Naruto (look above for a description) placed a seal on her, preventing her from even going near any kind of alcoholic beverage._**

**Natsu: the Flame King of Fairy Tail.**

**_This exuberant mage never runs out of energy, always running around with a smile on his face. His likes are his close friends, which consist of his team and his pseudo-family, Fairy Tail itself, as well as other things such as food, training, and fighting. It was said that for a time, Natsu was not able to walk correctly due to a certain prank Naruto played on him. However, there is not enough evidence to prove that this is true. Natsu received his rank at the age of sixteen. An interesting thing to note is that, like Naruto, he is also a contender for the top spot of a mage the female population would like to have as their boyfriend._**

**Gray: the Frozen King of Fairy Tail.**

**_The perfect archetype of cool, calm, and collected…and naked, which is a definite plus for the women. Gray is an mage that specializes in the art of Ice Make. Because the training in his earlier years required him to be immune to cold, even freezing temperatures, he has gained the habit of constantly stripping at random times, even missions. According to Natsu, a "weak rival" of Gray, the Ice Make mage stripped during a fight against an A-Class mage and still came out on top._**

**Mira: the Demon Queen of Fairy Tail.**

**_Now the bartender of the most powerful guild in Fiore, Mira used to be an extremely powerful mage. Her strength and power were at phenomenal levels before she suddenly stopped going on missions and decided to become the barmaid of the guild. The reason? Nobody knows…or no one is willing to reveal the secret behind her action. It is an unsolved mystery that is waiting to be revealed to the public some day in the far future._**

**Erza: Titania, Queen of the Fairies.**

**_Fairy Tail's strongest woman mage…at least according to the majority of the guild. Erza was the second youngest person to achieve S-Rank in the history of Fiore, passing it at the age of fifteen! Extremely powerful, extremely beautiful…and extremely strict. The last part was stated by every single one of the S-class mages in this list; each of them stated the same word: disciplinarian. But there is a cute side to her it seems, so not all hope is lost for those of you men out there. Here's a secret: she likes strawberry cheesecake. Just make sure no one drops her cake._**

**Laxus: the Lightning King of Fairy Tail.**

**_An aloof mage that is tall and proud of his strength…is what he seems to be on the surface. Laxus respects strength, and according to_**__**every**__**_mage in Fairy Tail, he respects Naruto and Gildarts. A powerful mage with the ability to use lightning, he has built a fearsome reputation, having never failed an S-class mission, usually completing them with surprising ease._**

**_Thank you all for reading this special on Fairy Tail's Generation of Elites! And many thanks to Fairy Tail for allowing our company to take photos and interviews of the mages stated above._**

Lucy sighed in content as she closed the Sorcerer's Magazine, letting out a small chuckle before she looked down at the sleeping figure of Natsu. Natsu, S-class mage of Fairy Tail, one of the elites of the new generation…and the Flame King of Fairy Tail.

The blonde leaned back in her seat, suddenly feeling the drain from the day's events. Nevertheless, she was extremely happy that she would finally be able to join the guild of her choice. Looking out the window to her right, she saw the horizon turning a flaming orange as the sun went lower and lower, crawling down the peak of the mountain until it ever so slowly disappeared from view.

She was asleep before night fell.

**XShuyaX**

(Location: Somewhere in Fiore)

"Hmm…I want to eat some ramen." A blond figure was walking along the path of a forest with no actual sense of direction, just walking calmly down the path. He seemed to be contemplating his thoughts on food before he sighed. "Man, it's been months since I've had good ramen…"

Suddenly, the blond did a slow turn, taking in all of the surroundings of the forest before yelling at the top of his lungs.

"DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE RAMEN?!" His voice echoed, reverberating in the forest multiple times before slowly disappearing.

"**ROARRRR**!" Naruto sighed as he raised a palm to his forehead in disappointment.

"I didn't think so."

**Chapter End.**

**Omake: Natsu's Training**

Natsu stared at Naruto with squinted eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me. I'm not doing that. Even _I'm_not _that_crazy!" He shouted at the blond. Naruto just stared back without a care in the world, holding up a seal in plain sight of the dragonslayer.

"It'll help you get stronger," Naruto responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Natsu pointed an accusing finger at the blond sage before suddenly running away.

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! I WON'T WEAR IT! I'M NOT GOING TO USE A **LEVEL 17 SEAL**!

"It'll make you stronger. Come back here," a voice said a few meters behind Natsu. The pink-haired mage turned around to find Naruto lazily chasing after him, the seal held tauntingly in the air. Natsu blanched before turning forwards and screaming for dear life.

"NOOOOOOO!"

"Why are you running away, Natsu?" The blond asked with a fake innocence.

"SCREW YOU! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Natsu screamed back, not willing to turn around for fear that Naruto would catch up those precious meters.

"Here you go."

"NOO-ACK!"

**Thump.**

**End Omake.**

**A/N: Okay, that's chill. I wanted to put something about Naruto, but I decided not to…yet.**

**Umm….umm…I think I'm going to focus on my other story for a little while. I now I updated this even though I said that I probably wouldn't for a while but…I was typing in class, something I shouldn't really be doing. Then again…when the class is doing nothing, I guess it is okay.**

**Oh yeah! Thanks for all of the suggestions for the crossovers! You know, I actually was thinking of a Naruto x Kill la Kill or a Naruto x Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) crossover, or maybe some other anime crossover, but I decided to wait it out. Why? I think that two stories are enough; I'm already behind on updating Naruto, the Dark Flash. So…yeah. I'll definitely think about a crossover when I have time, though, so have no fear! The thinking is coming…uh…yeah, I can't think of a rhyme.**

**Peace!**

**Kenzo Shuyita out!**


	12. Chapter 11: Fairy Tail's Strongest Team!

**Chapter 11: Lucy and Fairy Tail's Strongest Team!**

**A/N: I SUCK! AT WRITING! I CAN'T DO IT! Uh…let's try that again.**

**I think that I don't write the way I used to. If you think so as well, tell me. Wait…that's not the first thing I'm supposed to say...Anyway, I found this chapter unreasonably difficult to write for some reason. I think I'm losing my touch. Hopefully, it comes back to me as I continue to write, but I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as my previous chapters. If not…I don't blame you. But either way, I'll do my best!**

**I'M BACK! AND IN STYLE! Well, maybe not so much in style, but you get the idea…maybe. Anyway, gotta give a shoutout (does anyone even do that anymore? I don't know...I don't use Instagram and stuff like that...too much food stuff) to The King of Ranting for giving me the awesome names that are written in this chapter. There are more, but I've yet to get to them so...just wait patiently for another few chapters. :P**

**Information on the Story: …Erza is ridiculously strong. I realized that after I wrote this chapter. We're still not at the Hargeon Arc, but we're just before it starts. **

**Anyway, Erza is just as powerful as Natsu when he releases all of his limiters and goes all out. Erza is slightly more powerful than Gray, and she is unknown when it comes to Cana. I state this because Cana is not only a long range specialist that can easily keep her distance despite Erza's ability to quickly close the gap in between the two, but Cana can also fight close range efficiently and use seals. Therefore, I placed a question mark for the moment.**

**Disclaimer: I like pie…specifically Strawberry tart pie from Marie Callender's. But Tiramisu cake is also really good, usually from Korean bakery stores. Oh man…wait, that's not a disclaimer.**

**Naruto: When am I coming back? I'm so bored!**

**Me: Meh…during Phantom arc. So…basically a few more chapters.**

**Naruto: Whatever. I needed a break anyways. Want to watch some clouds again?**

**Me: Sure. You have potato chips? **

**Naruto: Yeah. Who's going to do the disclaimer?**

**Me: …**

**Naruto: …**

**Me: You know what, let's just watch some clouds. Everyone already knows what the disclaimer is.**

**Gray: Wait wait, wait! I know you said you were taking a break, but you never said FOUR MONTHS!**

**Me: …I said maybe June. You want to go to school, Gray?"**

**Gray: What's school?**

**Me: …Never mind. Just get the story rolling.**

**Chapter 11 START**

_Control…speed…power…all of that means nothing if you can't protect what you have and what you NEED to protect. That's the most important lesson I learned from Naruto. – Gray Fullbuster_

Cana was bored. Seriously, the only things she could do right now were read a magazine, play with her cards, and talk with Gray. She had already played cards with Gray on the train ride for nearly two hours, and there was still at least four hours left until they reached Magnolia Town. Talking with Gray was just fine and dandy, but they had run into a dead-end when the subject ended up at Naruto.

Let's be realistic here. Cana and Gray had a lot of subjects to talk about, but their main focus was magic, and a person couldn't hear or listen or learn enough in a day to talk for hours about something new. And so, their talks usually went from casual talk, to magical abilities, random news, and then strength of random mages, and that usually led to Naruto. Why? Simply because Naruto was the most overpowered mage they had ever known.

Either way, talking about clothing wouldn't start up a conversation; Gray didn't care about clothing, which was clearly obvious (and visible) by his lack of clothing currently. He was already shirtless, and would probably be without pants in just a few minutes. Maybe she should say something about it…

That's not the point. The point was that she was bored enough to read Sorceror's Magazine and was actually _reading _the whole thing, not just the highlights. Yes, Cana Alberona, the **Divine Dealer**, was that bored.

"You know that you aren't going to find Naruto in there, right?" Cana looked up from her magazine, simply lifting her eyes so that she met Gray's calm and bored gaze.

"I'm just bored enough to read the magazine. But then again, looking through the media to find out if they know anything about Naruto could be helpful," she replied before dropping her eyes back to the magazine. Gray simply sighed in response.

"I'm bored, too. But about Naruto…he'll come back when he wants to. You know the media won't get a drift on him at all other than some of the dark guilds he shut down." Cana nodded before returning to her magazine, starting a new page. Suddenly, she closed her magazine, dropping it to her side as she sighed in irritation.

"These articles are so boring…I'd rather watch clouds pass than sit in a train for six hours," Cana said in an utterly defeated tone; boredom had reigned victorious once again. In almost every single mission that was a few hours away from the guild, she always forgot to bring something to occupy her for the ride there and the ride back. It was at times like this that she knew Naruto's teleportation seals.

'_Maybe Levy could help me soon. She has been studying his seals for the last two years…but she said that she couldn't make heads or tails out of the teleportation seals that Naruto used at all.' _Cana sighed.

"Want to talk?" Gray asked, bored out of his mind as well. He could be training his control, but training all the time was strenuous; even Fairy Tail's **Raging Blizzard **needed breaks. The **Ice-Make **mage had gotten to the point of control over his magic that he had recently been able to tap into his purely magical reserves, but controlling it was a whole different story. Simply guiding it was at a _completely _different level.

"Sure, but what is there to talk about?" Cana replied, still looking out of the window. It was afternoon; the sun was still somewhat high, but by the time they reached the town, it would already be dark.

"You know that Natsu went on a trip, right?" Cana nodded her head. "Do you know the reason why?" Gray asked, trying to get the girl interested. It seemed to work slightly; Cana gave him a glance out of the corner of her eye.

"Not really," she said with some intrigue; why the dragonslayer would go on a trip instead of a mission was news to her. The fact that Natsu had decided to go on a train just made it funnier.

"He thinks that his dragon father was at the town. Can you believe that?" Gray said with mirth. Cana began to laugh, finding the situation ridiculous. How could a dragon enter a town and not gather the attention of any other town _and_ the Magic Council?

"Haha, that's ridiculous." Cana took a moment longer to stop laughing. When she had calmed down and caught her breath, she smiled at Gray. "Thanks, Gray. Is there any other interesting news?" Gray nodded.

"Right before we left on the mission, I overheard Master talking about Hikaru. Apparently, he got another mission that suddenly went from B-Class to high A-Class." Cana facepalmed and gave out a small chuckle.

"Geez, that guy always gets the unlucky missions. How does this happen to him on every mission?" Cana asked in a joking tone, completely defying the seriousness of the situation.

Hikaru was an A-class mage that had joined Fairy Tail around three years ago. Despite his being an A-class mage, to be on an A-class mission was…dangerous for a solo mage to say the least. And to get a mission that changed its details _every _single time was…extraordinary…in a very bad way. In fact, Cana had gone on a mission with him, and that went _perfectly_. Absolutely dandy and perfect…at least it was so until after the mission. Then, on the way to the train station to return to Magnolia Town, the pair was forced to go back to town and help because the mission suddenly had a new detail; apparently, there was an extremely high level monster that was lurking around town and was now attacking the civilians. According to the townspeople when they had returned, their extermination mission of the lower class monsters had enraged the large monster, taking the attack as a sign of the humans trespassing into its territory. There were a multitude of other reasons, but that wasn't the point. The point was that the simple extermination mission of low class monsters that should have been a calm B-Class mission became an S-Class mission.

It was on this mission that Cana realized that Hikaru was much stronger that he let on. If he wanted to, she was almost certain that he could be the highest tier of A-class mage or maybe even a low S-class mage. He stated that he was a **Light **mage to the guild, falsely letting on that his main magical ability dealt with only light. On the B-Class mission turned S-Class mission six months ago, Cana was almost taken out by the monster by surprise, a huge mistake on her part. However, Hikaru suddenly jumped into the fray. The brunette had tried to stop him, but the white-haired mage stood strong, only turning head slightly around so that a small smirk was visible to the brunette as he stood in front of the large monster.

What happened afterwards was amazing. Apparently, the "low" A-class mage was more than what he let on; he was able to use both **Light **and **Darkness**, something that both amazed and frightened her. His ability to use **Light** on the mission was much stronger than on his usual missions, which impressed her highly. But his use of **Darkness**…that scared her. To use such a malevolent form of magic had made Cana fearful; it reminded her of the Dark Mage Zeref, as if probably would for any other mage if they saw Hikaru use his magic.

In the end, Hikaru made Cana promise to not tell anyone about his secret. His magic was to remain absolutely secret and she was not to say a word. Of course, Cana promised, and they went back to the guild in silence. The brunette never went on a mission with Hikaru ever since, even after the mage had asked multiple times.

"Yeah, truly amazing. So, what are you going to do when you get back to the guild?" Gray asked. Cana sighed as she was brought back to the boring setting of the train. Closing her eyes, imagining the warm water of a bath caressing her skin and warming into her pores as all the vile dirt left her body.

"First, I'm going to report to Master, and then I'm going to go home and take a nice bath. After that, I'll jump onto a couch and read a book until Levy comes back." The idea of warm water caressing her skin was already drawing her into a blissful imaginative scenario.

"And why is it that you would never let Natsu and me sleep over? I mean, it is Naruto's apartment," Gray stated. Cana opened her eyes and leaned forwards suggestively, her breasts pressed up by her crossed arms

"Well…that's because Levy and I are girls. And you two are guys."

"You've been sleeping on Naruto's bed ever since he left."

"That's different. He left."

"Right..." The **Ice-Make** Mage drawled out to emphasize his displeasure. "Okay, fine. Then explain why you chose Levy as your boarding buddy again?" Cana sighed; she was certain she had explained this at least twenty times and that Gray just wanted to take over the apartment so the guys could stay there. It was a nice apartment, not a doubt about that.

"You know why, Gray. I told you already, Levy is my closest girl friend and so I asked her over. When she came over and saw the books on seals that Naruto left behind, she said that she was staying, whether I liked it or not. Thankfully, I liked it." Gray grumbled and turned his head to the window, looking out at the passing scenery once more.

"Geez, I like that complex, too, you know?" Cana smirked.

"I know."

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Fairy Tail Guild)**

"Wow! The building is so big!" Lucy said in surprise and awe as Natsu and Happy guided her into the guild building. The pink-haired dragonslayer smiled widely as he opened the door before yelling his return to the guild.

"I'M BACK!"

The whole guild turned to the front door, recognizing the enthusiastic voice, responding with the same enthusiasm. Some even lifted their glasses of beer before slamming it back down on their tables.

"WELCOME BACK, NATSU!" Mira looked over from the table she was waiting on and smiled at Natsu.

"Welcome back home, Natsu," she said in a happy tone. Natsu grinned back at her, his eyes closing slightly from the large smile.

"Hey, Mira! I got something for you from Hargeon Port!" Mira walked over to Natsu and passed him a small piece of paper. Then, she turned to Lucy and smiled at her.

"And what would you like?" She asked in a pleasant tone. Lucy was stuttering inside her mind; she was in front of Fairy Tail's poster girl, Mirajane Strauss!

"Ahh…I would like to join the guild," the blonde said quickly, her face turning red from embarrassment. Mira nodded her head with a smile before walking over to the bar counter.

"Natsu, give me the gift later. I still have to work a few more hours." Then, turning back to Lucy, she gave another calming smile that and waved the young blonde over to the counter. "What color?"

Lucy, however, did not answer immediately. Possibly, it was due to the fact that a bar fight was starting up around her and tables were already getting destroyed. Or maybe it was because she just realized that Mira was asking her the color of the Fairy Tail stamp that she wanted, the stamp already held tauntingly in the cover girl's hand. So, in this moment of confusion, her answer was a world-changing –

"Huh?"

"What color do you want your stamp to be?" Mira clarified. Lucy took a step back in surprise, not expecting it to be _this _easy to join the guild she had longed for years.

"Wait, there's no test or anything?" Mira shook her head. "Why?" Lucy asked in a bewildered tone.

"You seem like a nice person, and Natsu brought you with him, so that says a lot about your character as well. If you want, I could call the master of the guild, although I think that would be useless." Calling the master of the guild would be useless? Lucy just could not grasp the logic behind the girl's statement. Since when was asking the master of a guild not needed? Either way, that didn't make Fairy Tail any less cool in her eyes.

"Pink on the back of my hand, please!" Lucy said, anticipation in her voice as the stamp neared her hand. When it pressed against the back of her hand, a feeling of fulfillment flushed through her body. However, that feeling was quickly replaced with dread when she realized how much the bar fight had progressed.

"I'll end it with this!"

"We are MEN!"

"Seems like I'll have to get involved, hmm? Sorry ladies, it seems like I'll have to get serious."

"I'm all fired up!"

Lucy stared with wide eyes at the spectacle occurring before her. Mira, on the other hand, just looked from her position at the bar counter with a smile, even after a bottle of beer struck her on the forehead.

Suddenly, the door opened. All of the guild members turned to the front of the building as light came in from the outside, making it difficult to mark out of the features of the face, but the outline of the figures were obvious.

"Cana! Gray!" Everyone shouted as one, suddenly dropping all of their magical spells that each and every one of them were about to throw at each other. When the door closed and the sunlight faded away, Lucy saw clearly two of her favorite mages from Fairy Tail, but Cana was definitely her choice over Gray.

"Woah, is that Cana, the **Divine Dealer **of Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked, her voice implying shock. Mira smiled and nodded, noticing that the blonde hadn't said anything about Gray, so she had assumed that Lucy was more interested in Cana.

"You know, you should talk to her. It'll be a good start to meeting some people in Fairy Tail," the barmaid said encouragingly. The newly instated Fairy Tail mage gave the **Demon Mage** a scandalous look.

"How could I talk to her? She's so…amazing!" Lucy said with admiration in her voice. Despite her words, she was looking at the S-class Cards mage with a kind of longing in her eyes; for Kami's sake, she came to Fairy Tail not just to be a mage and be free from the grip her father had tried to place on her, but to meet these people! She wanted to see what made Fairy Tail so great, and yet…and yet she couldn't even _talk_ to one person that she had wanted to meet in the guild.

'_I'm pathetic, aren't I? Can't even talk to Cana, and I'm new in this guild.'_ Lucy thought to herself as her chin dropped to her chest.

"Oh, do we have a new guild member?" a voice said behind the blond…or more like under the blonde. Lucy suddenly whirled around and looked down at the floor, noticing an old man with a cheeky and lecherous grin as he looked up her skirt. A tic mark making its way to her forehead, Lucy raised her fist before Mira hit the master on the head, mumbling loudly about perverted old men.

"Master, you shouldn't peep on new members to the guild, or any girls for that matter," Mira stated in a calm tone with an undercurrent of a threat. Lucy suddenly paled, slowly looking at the old man that was nursing his head by rubbing it with both of his hands.

'_Oh Kami…I was just about to hit the MASTER of Fairy Tail!'_

"I'm fine, don't worry." The master said in a sarcastic tone as no one asked about how he felt. This statement did not seem to calm down the frightened blonde, as she was in her own world at the moment, caught in her own figments of imagination of "if she had hit the Master of Fairy Tail".

"Geez, Master. You should stop acting like such a pervert," Mira said with admonishment. Suddenly, an arm slung around her shoulders as Cana leaned against the white-haired girl, a wide smile on her face.

"I disagree. I find it amusing to watch girls hit him. Besides, all he gets to see in our undergarments, so it isn't that big of a deal," Cana said with a nonchalant air about her. Gray, who was next to her, deadpanned as he pointed out that Cana was literally walking around in her undergarments. Cana looked down at herself before shaking her head. "Nope, I'm completely dressed. See, I'm wearing Capri pants and a top."

"Your top is a bra," Gray said with an undertone of disbelief.

"It's misdirection. Besides…you're not wearing anything on top," she corrected and then pointed out.

"Touché. Oh wait…" Looking down at himself this time, Gray quickly realized his lack of clothing. "Crap!" Cana and Mira shared a laugh as Gray ran off, looking for his lost articles of clothing. Lucy, who just broke out of her frightening land of imagination, noticed that Cana was right in front of her. The brunette gave her a glance before looking over at Mira.

"New girl here?" Cana asked curiously. Mira nodded.

"Yup!" She replied, popping the 'p'. "Natsu brought her with him from his visit to Hargeon Port." Cana released Mira and stood up straight, seemingly appraising the blonde girl in front of her before speaking.

"D." Lucy raised her eyebrows, but inside, she thought the brunette was stating that she was a D-class mage or something.

'_Is she reading my magical level?' _The blonde thought to herself. Mira smacked Cana on the brunette's back, but the white-haired girl was laughing light-heartedly.

"Cana, it's not nice to talk about other people's sizes before even introducing yourself!" Cana smiled unabashedly in response. A slow blush crept its way to Lucy's face, realizing that the brunette was talking about her breast size.

"Why? It's more fun that way." Turning back to Lucy, Cana extended out her hand and gripped Lucy's shoulder in a strong and yet gentle manner. "Why don't you come with me and meet some of my buddies? So what's your name?" The brunette led the blonde toward away from the bar counter. Mira and the master just watched with two similar smiles as Cana took in the new girl with ease.

"Huh? Huh?" This was Lucy's wisely prepared response as she was pulled by Cana toward a table that consisted of Natsu, Gray, Levy (who, of course, had Jet and Droy next to her), Elfman, and Loke. As the two girls neared the table, they heard the group at the table listening to Natsu telling his adventures at Hargeon Port animatedly.

"-and then, that guy, Salamander. He was impersonating someone, but I don't know who…" Natsu took a contemplative pose at this point, his eyes roaming upwards toward the ceiling as his index finger tapped on his chin. Happy took an identical position, speaking his ever famous words.

"Aye." Every mage at the table face-palmed. However, Gray was the first to reprimand Natsu.

"Idiot! He was impersonating you with information that dated back to two years ago!" Gray leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms over his naked chest; somehow, his shirt had disappeared already. "And this is why it's important to have information. A lack of information could make you look stupid." Gray said wisely, basically speaking the words that Naruto had told his team before disappearing.

"Wait…I'm Salamander? Oh yeah…that's why I still call my moves by Salamander." Natsu said, realization dawning on his face. The group of at the table fought the urge to facepalm once more. Happy, however, made the urge impossible to deny with his next statement.

"That's right! You haven't gotten me fish today! That's what was troubling me!" Seriously, how the two could act so…ridiculously, as a euphemism, was beyond them at times.

Looking up, Gray noticed Cana was walking over to the table with a blonde girl by her side.

"Hey, Cana, who's that girl next to you?" The Ice mage asked curiously. The rest of the table looked up or turned around, depending on the person's position. Cana slung her arm around Lucy's shoulder and pointed at her.

"She's Natsu's girlfriend!" A sputtering Lucy was the immediate response, right before everyone else yelled in surprise.

"NATSU HAS A GIRLFRIEND?!" The whole guild roared in unison, all of them suddenly zoning in on Lucy. Cana smirked; sometimes, the guild's ability to somehow hear every word when it mattered was a nice thing. And other times…Cana mentally frowned, remembering the one time she had gotten drunk and accused Naruto of liking Mira.

"What a MAN!" We can all guess as to who said that.

"What's a _girlfriend_?" Natsu said when everything went silent. Cana grumbled under her breath about a certain dragonslayer ruining her fun. The rest of the guild, realizing that Cana was only teasing the new girl, went back to their daily activities, but they all shared a laugh at Natsu's ignorance and innocence. The brunette sat down on one of the tables and smiled at the rest of the group before waving for Lucy to sit down next to her. The blonde complied, although with a certain nervousness about her.

"Hey, Luigi!" Natsu said the moment Lucy sat down. The blonde gave the dragonslayer a look of hurt and annoyance before telling him that her name was Lucy. The rest of the group remained silent, watching the exchange between the two before finally introducing themselves.

"Hi! I'm Levy, a **Solid Script** mage, and two guys next to me are Jet and Droy! Together, we make the team **Shadow Gear**!" She said in a prideful tone, if her smirk was anything to go by. Gray, Natsu, and Cana grumbled in response; they wanted to say that they had a team, too. Although Levy's team was strong, it were not certainly the best. However, without Naruto, the three S-class mages weren't a complete team. It wasn't that they couldn't be a team; that wasn't the issue at all. It was just…there was a kind of understanding between the three of them that without Naruto, they weren't complete.

"Nice to meet you three" Lucy said in response, a wide smile making its way to her face as she became integrated with some of the members she had wanted to meet and make friends with for so long. Then, she turned to Cana and asked, "I'm just wondering. What about your team?"

Cana, realizing that the blonde had meant Naruto's team, frowned for a fraction of a second before smiling widely. "Don't worry. We're still a team, but until Naruto comes back, we aren't complete yet."

Gray and Natsu nodded at the same time in agreement, two identical grins on their faces. Suddenly, Levy stood up from the table and waved at Cana.

"I'll see you back at home, Cana; I'm going to study those seals tonight, alright?" She said with a smile before turning around.

"Alright. Hey wait, why don't you take the new girl with you and show her around town?" Cana suggested. She had a friendly arm slung over the blonde's shoulder and neck to emphasis the person. Turning around, Levy smiled before waving over Lucy to join her.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea!"

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Nighttime)**

Cana unlocked the door to "her" apartment complex and sighed as the contraption gave way, allowing her to enter her establishment. Immediately, the smell of dinner invaded her senses, which she smiled; Levy's cooking was almost as good as Mira's cooking, but not quite there.

"Levy, I'm back!" Cana said when she had taken off her shoes and placed her bag hanging on a chair. She received no response, but she wasn't expecting any; Levy was probably in her own world as she concentrated on the notes Naruto left behind.

Quickly finishing her dinner and taking a long bath, Cana was now changed into her sleepwear and was sitting in a chair out on the terrace as she looked out at the town she had grown to love. For some reason, she could feel Naruto next to her, sitting over in the chair next to hers, as if he had been sitting there doing the same exact thing she was doing.

She watched as the night darkened, and as the lights in the streets slowly dimmed and then disappeared, the town becoming darker and darker as its residents went to sleep, one by one. Turning away from the view, Cana placed one of her cards on the table that stood steadfastly between the two chairs and slowly pumped some magic into it, using her magic to try and find the location of a certain blond. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and waited for a few moments before opening them in surprise. For a moment, she had actually been able to feel Naruto's presence! For the past four years, she had been able to feel nothing and hadn't been able to obtain a reading on Naruto's whereabouts, so this was the first time she had been able to actually get a read.

"Is this because I became stronger? Or is it because my control over my magical reserves increased?" she murmured to herself in contemplation. She pondered for a few moments before sighing at the lack of answers popping up. "I really don't know…I guess I'll just go to sleep and talk to Levy about it tomorrow."

With that decision made up, Cana stood up from her comfortable position and opened the sliding door before she entered the dark apartment. However, she didn't need any kind of light to maneuver her way through the establishment; she had been living in the complex for two years. She had come to know every single piece of furniture, every one of their locations, and also how many steps it would take to go from one place in the apartment to another place.

With her eyes closed the whole way to her bedroom, she did not notice that one of the permanent seal markers Naruto had placed in the apartment had flashed for a moment before the momentary light faded away.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Mountain)**

"So, Luigi…how do you like Fairy Tail so far?"

"It's Lucy…and I can't think right now. It's too cold!" Lucy said in reply, barely preventing her teeth from chattering when she spoke. She had wrapped a pair of blankets around her upper body and was doing her best to stay warm, but it was all for naught. Strangely, the mage next to her seemed perfectly fine in the ice cold weather. Heck, even the flying cat seemed better off than the blonde.

"It's cold? Probably because you're wearing so little. Then again…I could just do that. Come closer," The fire mage said, waving her over. Lucy complied, shivering the whole ten feet. When she was near enough, Natsu raised his hands and closed his eyes, a look of concentration on his face that completely contrasted his normal attitude. Suddenly, the blonde felt warmer. It was as if the snowstorm that was occurring all around them was a mere illusion, and that she was inside her own cone of warmth.

Natsu opened his eyes and smiled before dropping his hands to his sides, a wide smile on his face.

"Better, right?" Lucy nodded quickly, thankful that she wouldn't have to deal with the cold anymore. "Alright, that's good. I wasn't sure if that was going to work or not. Last time I tried it on Gray, and he wasn't all that happy about it". Lucy stumbled over an imaginary rock.

'_Wait…is he telling me that this was one of his first times doing this?' _The blonde thought to herself in fear. Thoughts of the fire mage losing concentration for even a moment came into mind.

"If you are worrying about me losing concentration, then don't worry. I did this to Gray the whole time I was awake for a day one time without bringing down the barrier, even when we were fighting. Then again, he did the same thing to me with his ice, that bastard." Natsu mumbled as he walked up the steep mountain. Lucy sighed in relief, feeling safe. "Now, I wonder where that monster is…"

Lucy's feeling of safety quickly disappeared the moment Natsu said the word "monster". What had she done, not even checking what kind of mission whoever Macao was, and just blindly following Natsu to the snowy mountaintop with no way down other than walking?

'_Kami, I pray for your protection so that I may live through this night.' _

"Hey, what are you doing?" Natsu questioned when he saw the new girl on her knees, her hands clasped tightly together. Lucy opened her eyes for a moment before closing them again, tilting her head up to the sky.

"I'm praying for safety. I just hope that whatever monster you are talking about doesn't appear."

The moment Lucy finished her sentence, a small shadow appeared on the ground right where Natsu was standing. It quickly grew larger, completely encompassing the area Natsu stood and even more. Suddenly noticing that the area he was standing was becoming darker, Natsu jumped away from his location in the nick of time, back-flipping away right at the moment an explosion of ice flew up from whatever impacted the ground. When the snow cleared away, all that remained was a large monkey-like animal with a strangely perverted grin.

"It's the Vulcan!" Happy shouted.

"That's the Vulcan?" Natsu and Lucy said at the same time. The blonde immediately shifted her focus from the flying cat to the fire mage.

"Wait, you didn't even know who your target was?" Natsu raised his hands to shoulder level with his palms up, as if gesturing 'what-did-you-expect'? The blonde's disbelief was only emphasized further by the widening of her pupils.

"I would've knocked out all of the monsters in the mountain until I found Macao. Luckily, it seems that this one came to us and was the one we were looking for!" Natsu shouted as his hands were lit on fire. "Let's dance!"

However, his challenge was completely ignored as the Vulcan jumped over Natsu in a blur. In a moment, he was suddenly in front of Lucy, its hands reached out to grab her.

"A human woma-AHHHH HOT!" Vulcan shouted, one of its hands a deep red. The monster immediately forced its burned hand deep into the snow, sighing in content before throwing a murderous glare at the fire mage.

"You're opponent is me…slowpoke." Natsu said with a smirk as the flames on his hand changed from red to orange to blue, indicating the increase in heat.

Lucy shuddered. She hadn't even really seen the monkey monster move; one moment he was standing in front of Natsu, and the next, its offending hand was about to grab her if Natsu's warming barrier wasn't surrounding her. However, this wasn't the moment to relax or think on the past. The present was just as scary to her with the monster standing right next to her, although its attention was now completely on Natsu.

"Me…no like man!" It shouted as it charged at Natsu at a breakneck speed…at least that's what it seemed like to Lucy. To Natsu, who had trained with Naruto for years and had been using **Gravity Seals **for even longer, the monster was literally a snail…or a turtle…maybe a fast turtle. Either way, the point was made clear; the monster was stupidly slow in Natsu's eyes.

"Natsu, move!" Lucy shouted in worry when she saw the **Flame King **standing perfectly still, just staring straight on at the incoming monster as the distance closed quickly. Right when the monster was about to reach Natsu, both its arms coming down to slam the mage into the ground, Natsu blurred out of vision before appearing above the monkey monster, his right leg already in position for a deadly axe kick.

"Increase **Gravity Seal **to **Level 20**!" Natsu shouted. Right when his right leg was about to impact against the Vulcan's head, the **Fire Mage's** right leg lit up for a moment. Immediately, Natsu's flew downwards, his right leg leading the way, as if the amount of gravity pressing down on Natsu had increased.

"Boom…" the fire mage muttered the moment before his leg impacted harshly with a crack against the monster's head. An explosion rocked the mountain when the Vulcan slammed against the ground face-first, its teeth falling out of place and blood seeping out of its mouth.

"Woah!" Lucy shouted when she noticed the large amount of snow coming down from the air that had risen from Natsu's kick. She and Happy began to run away from the snow that was coming down and would have collapsed on them if they remained still. Barely getting away from harm's way, the two turned to find Natsu, seeing him standing right above an injured man.

The two quickly went over to Natsu and checked the injured man. Lucy raised a hand to her mouth in surprise the moment she saw the injured man. Blood was all over the man's chest, an a long scar ran down the man's chest in a diagonal arc.

"Oh my…do you guys have a first aid kit?" Lucy asked and shouted at the same time at the two, her mind quickly changing from worried to serious in a moment. Natsu nodded his head, taking the pack from his back and letting it drop to the ground before rummaging through it.

A few seconds later, Lucy had already opened the first aid kit and grabbed all the materials she had required to get to work on the injured man. Clearing away all of the blood as gently as she could to prevent any more pain from the man, all that was left was the long cut that ran down the man's right side to his torso.

"It's still bleeding because the wound is too deep. There's nothing we can do with the first aid kit." Lucy said as she backed away a few inches to replace the towel she was using. "What happened to him?" Happy took the silent question as the moment to explain.

"Vulcans are monsters that are able to take over human bodies, it seems." However, Happy's explanation was all but a slur of words as she was in her own mind, rushing through multiple possibilities to save the man lying in front of her.

'_He…won't survive if he continues to bleed like this. He needs actual medical attention, but if anything, the best we can do is to cauterize the wound…wait…'_

Lucy suddenly lifted her head and opened her mouth, but it seemed that Natsu was already doing what was necessary, his right hand on fire as he brought it down to the wound. The moment the flaming hand made contact with the flesh, Macao began to scream in agony and pain, his body writhing and contorting from the almost unbearable pain.

"Sorry, Macao, but I have to do this so that you can live. Just deal with it for now!" The man only continued to scream and writhe in response.

When Natsu finally removed his hand, Macao chuckled to himself before cursing to himself.

"Damn it…I took out nineteen of them. I didn't know there was a twentieth one hiding." He said, as if he were ashamed of himself. If anything, however, this made Lucy suddenly self-conscious of her apparent weakness.

'_He took out nineteen of those Vulcans and was taken over because he didn't know there was one hiding…I wouldn't have been able to take out a single one even if I had the preemptive strike.' _She thought to herself in sadness.

Completely oblivious to the girl's thoughts, the three walked down the mountain, locked in a conversation to keep the injured awake.

Well, that was the case until an avalanche forced the group to rush down the mountain as quickly as possible.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Two Weeks Later)**

"What did you say?!"

"You heard me, hot-head." Cana sighed as she pulled out two random cards. Channeling her magic through them, she suddenly threw them, her hands nothing more than a blur before the two cards struck the floor near the feet of the quarreling boys. Immediately, Natsu and Gray struck the floor, surprise evident on their face that eventually gave way to annoyance.

"Damn you, Cana. Damn you and your seals," Natsu moaned from the floor. Gray agreed silently, slowly forcing himself up despite the extremely heavy resistance and extra gravity.

"It would be nice if you stopped fighting all the time. I thought you guys would be over your rivalry by now." Cana stated with her eyes forced shut as she rubbed her forehead in irritation. The two mages of the floor glared at each other before grumbling.

"Wait, I thought only Naruto was able to use seals expertly." Lucy said in surprise at the use of the ancient magic. Cana shook her head as she reached out her hand; the two cards on the floor seemed to react to her actions as they disappeared in a glow of gold. As soon as they disappeared, Cana dropped her hand to her side and smirked as she turned over to Lucy.

"No, he _was _the only one able to use **Ancient Seals** with ease. Levy has been studying for the past few years since his…disappearance. Although she isn't really that close to Naruto's skill and precision in the art, she is well acquainted enough with the art to be able to draw **Gravity Seals** and others on my cards."

"Woah…that sounds like a lot of dedication," Lucy said with no small amount of admiration in her voice. Cana just nodded and began to make small talk with the blonde, completely ignoring the two suffering males that were struggling to get off the floor.

"Damn it, Naruto. Why did you leave those stupid guides on seals at the apartment?" Gray moaned from the floor, barely on his elbows at the moment. Natsu, who was already used to using heavy **Gravity Seals**, simply removed his original seals and stood up before taunting Gray, who was still struggling on the floor.

Three days was all it took for Lucy to get mostly acquainted with the guild members and memorize the whole of Magnolia Town…and also the usual bar fights and also the constant bickering between the three. And two weeks was all it took to become completely acquainted with all the shortcuts, the routines of the people and the town, and to get her own place to stay. Now, two weeks may seem too short to get to know all the people of the guild, but with such a welcoming and happy guild, it actually wasn't that difficult. True, she didn't know all of the members deeply, but she knew them widely.

But if she did know something deeply, it was that missions with Natsu and even Gray or Cana almost always ended up with some kind of trouble. It wasn't the normal destruction that Fairy Tail causes; no, the trouble was either the raids of fangirls or fanboys or a random mage always challenging the S-class mages.

What the blonde also came to know for a certainty was…Natsu was a genius and an idiot. He had to be. There was no other explanation for his strategies that came up on the fly during battles, and there was also no explanation for his lack of tact and common sense among friends and even among the mission requesters. It was almost ridiculous…actually, it was ridiculous.

But that didn't leave the two other Fairy Tail veterans off the hook in her eyes either; Cana and Gray had their own little quirks. It was just that their issues weren't nearly as bad as Natsu's were. Gray only stripped, but at least he was logical. Cana was also quite logical and powerful in her own right, but she seemed to be in a trance at times. On multiple occasions, Lucy caught the busty brunette staring up at the endless expanse of blue above.

Somehow, Lucy had managed to get herself attached to the group, and so they were now a group of four, a complete team. Although they didn't go on S-class missions since they felt that Lucy wasn't quite ready for them, the team did have a lot of fun on their missions, messing around and not taking their missions seriously. One time, Natsu and Gray began to fight each other while their targets were trying to attack the duo.

While the two boys began to duke it out once more in one of the corners of the guild hall, Lucy and Cana just talked continued to chatter about nonsensical things when suddenly, Loki came up to the blonde with flirtatious swagger exuding from his personage. However, when he was just about to speak to her, he suddenly screamed "this is the end of us", and promptly ran out of the guild building, leaving Lucy confused and Cana laughing at the plight of the man.

'_Was there ever an 'us' to begin with?' _the confused blonde thought to herself. Instead of voicing out her thoughts plainly, she instead asked, "What's up with him?" to the brunette next to her.

Cana just laughed again before actually replying to Lucy's question. "Loki always had a problem with Celestial Spirit mages. I don't exactly know all the details for his phobia, but that's that." Lucy hummed to herself as she immersed herself into thought before it was suddenly broken by a pair a shouts.

Ironically, or not so ironically, Loki, who had moments before ran out of the building, had rushed back in with an even more perturbed expression on his face as he rushed over to the bickering duo in the corner and whispered them something.

"ERZA IS BACK?!" The surprised duo shouted in unison. This made the whole guild immediately go into panic mode, as the majority of the guild members quickly went into disarray and dropped everything they were doing and became silent.

Unlike what she expected, Lucy saw the two previously fighting boys wrapping their arms over each other's shoulders, acting terribly as close friends.

'_What could possibly make the two so nervous by the name of Erza? Isn't she one of the other S-class mages of Fairy Tail?' _

Cana, the one person that was acting normally compared to the rest of the members, had no problem sitting however she pleased on the table and giving her deck of cards a quick perusal before the **"Queen" **of Fairy Tail actually entered the building. With her indifference set into play, the brunette casually sat back on the table top as she whistled while glancing at her tarot cards, every once in a while giving a random card a little spin on the tip of her index finger.

And then…she came: the evil…scarlet haired woman with armor over her body, her frightening single visible eye glaring at each person inside the vicinity. The ugly ogre who hid one eye behind her hair so as not to show how frightening her whole visage truly was. She was…

"Happy…I don't think you should be saying that kind of stuff," Natsu whispered at the talking cat who was speaking much louder than normal. Cana, who was previously twirling one of her Divining Cards, threw back her head and began to laugh while she stomped her feet against the table seat. Mira wasn't far behind the brunette, giving away a little giggle behind her hand as she eye-smiled.

"Aye," Gray whispered, copying the flying blue cat's favorite word. Lucy stared on at the whole situation with confusion. Erza was by no means ugly; for Kami's sake, the scarlet haired mage was _beautiful__**. **_Not only that, but the way she walked and moved, especially with that giant…thing…on her shoulder just simply seemed to scream "power". Indescribable, incomparable, and simply unfathomable power.

"Is the master here?" the returning mage asked once she was completely inside the quiet guild. Mira quickly schooled her expression and smiled at the scarlet haired beauty before replying.

"No. Master is currently in a session with the other guild masters," Mira stated. Erza simply nodded her head as she dropped her heavy…thing…to the ground.

"Um…Erza? What is that?" At that question from one of the guild members, Erza smiled and replied that it was a token of gratitude from one of the requesters after she subdued a large monster. Lucy internally cringed at the word monster, while the rest of the guild cringed from the size of the monster she must have had to subdue to take back with her such a large horn…with many ornaments.

Seriously? Who decorates horns these days?

Either way, Erza quickly dropped her smile and began to berate and chastise multiple members of the guild who weren't acting upright and correct in her books. After a few minutes of this, she suddenly stopped and sighed before saying, "I think that's enough for today."

'_I think that would have been enough for a week!' _Lucy thought to herself, remembering how many times the Master criticized a member of the guild in the amount of time she had declared her loyalty to the guild. _'Yeah…I think that number is zero'_, she thought to herself with a sweatdrop.

In a swift motion, Erza did a quick half-circle and zoned in on Gray and Natsu, the two boys continuing to sling their arms over each other's shoulders. As she walked towards the pair, the two S-class mages began to feel a sweat dripping off both of their chins.

Why they are still scared of Erza despite their status as S-class mages is truly a question, hmm? Well, first off, it's not easy to get rid of a traumatic event such as getting one's ass kicked by a girl at the ripe age of twelve. Secondly, Erza was still stronger than either of them. And finally, the trauma stuck with the two after Naruto left when, one day, Natsu decided that he was strong enough to fight Erza and defeat her. That was a huge miscalculation on his part. She kicked his ass to next Tuesday without breaking too much of a sweat…although if Natsu actually went full power, he may have had a chance at actually winning. Not that he needed to know that.

But in any case, how was she so strong? Well, Before Naruto left, he did manage to make the rest of his team S-class mages. That is a true statement. It is also true to state that he helped Mira. However, no one knew that the missing blond also helped Erza at some point in time before he left, and still no one knows to this day.

**XShuyaX**

**(Flashback: No actual time)**

It was sudden and it came out of nowhere. Erza suddenly approached Naruto when he was walking through the outskirts of town by himself towards one of his more pristine forest areas to meditate and asked for him to train her and to help her get stronger.

"Alright," he said without a moment's hesitation. After he accepted her request, he continued to walk away with his hands in his pockets. When he seemed far away enough, Erza suddenly heard himse say, "It's about time you got rid of that pride of yours, you know?" She whipped her head to glare at him, but all she got was his back facing her before he suddenly disappeared with the leaves.

Training began the day after her request. This was after Naruto spent the rest of the day meditating and then carefully planning how she would train his new…student? No, she was like the rest of them. She was just a training partner, as he would help her and she would help him. What he came to realized after some time was that Erza, although still prideful, had quickly become his favorite due to multiple circumstances, which meant he gave special focus onto her and helped her diligently. As a result, the swordswoman improved at astonishing speeds.

What set her apart from the others, like stated before, were multiple cases. First off, her unyielding determination that stood unwaveringly in the face of threat and danger came close to Naruto's own level of determination. Although this could also be attributed to any of his partners, she was set apart by multiple other details that made her special to him. Secondly, she was extremely powerful by the time she came to him, and that gave her a big check in the blond's books. He knew how it felt to try to teach himself. Simply, it was impossible for him to evolve and improve without the help of others. So, her growth and status at the time were simply astonishing in his eyes.

But what truly set her apart was the way she acted once her exterior shell cracked. She was actually a very soft person that cared for every person in the guild, and also quite soft-spoken, due to the fact that she sometimes stumbled on her words and she had a lack of tact. On the outside, she put on powerful and strong exterior, but she was actually a confused and quite lonely girl with only the Master and very rarely, Mira, to confide with. With the discovery that she was revealing her true self to him, Naruto was extremely happy and without knowing it, put her in a special place in his mind that wasn't quite as high as Cana, but was equal to the members of his team. Also, the more he spent time with her and trained her, the more he felt that she gave him a kind of respect…and even awe. The fact that he was younger than her and was a so-called 'prodigy' may have had something to do with the way she looked at him, but it was also the way he carried himself and the way he talked and looked at things. Everything about him seemed mature, and she highly respected it once she realized that Naruto was quite different that who she thought he was.

And so, when he suddenly left…she felt that someone needed to take up the missing piece of the puzzle and become the mature person in the guild. She trained endlessly and took care of herself, once again alone with no one to turn to for help other than herself, and she recreated that calm, powerful exterior, the soft yet determined interior never to appear again…although it never technically appeared to any of the guild's members other than Naruto.

And that was how to Erza of today was created.

**XShuyaX**

**(Flashback: End)**

"Ah…Erza, we're being friends like always," Natsu muttered through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, we're being gr-great buddies to each other…ain't that right, Natsu?" The fire dragonslayer performed a shaky nod. Erza, thanks be to Kami, seemed not to notice their horrendous acting skills. That was one part that Naruto didn't manage to help her on since he tended to forget about it, but was always reminded of the issue whenever they went on a mission together.

"It's good to see you two acting so cordially with each other. I like to see that. It's alright for friends to fight once in a while, but they need to stay friendly the majority of the time." Suddenly, her face became serious as her eyebrows furrowed and her eye seemed to catch some kind of shadow to heighten the severity of her next statement. "I need you two to come with me. Master isn't here right now, so I can't tell him, but we have no time to waste. We have to leave now. I'm asking for your help this one time because I'm not certain if I can deal with this myself."

The rest of the guild continued their silence, but this time in shock. Erza…asking for help? What was the world coming to? Lucy, who was standing somewhere near Mira at the moment, heard the barmaid whisper to herself, "Those three could easily make the strongest team in Fairy Tail if they team up."

"Hold on a second. Where do you think you're going with half my team?" Cana suddenly spoke up, making herself known as she turned around to glare at the scarlet-haired mage. Erza glared back, and the two ensued a silent glaring contest that emitted sparks of lightning.

"I'm asking a favor from the two since I need help this once. Is there a problem?" Cana's glare intensified.

"Hell yes. Of course I have an issue with that. I just told you you're running off with half the _team _without even telling the rest of the members. And if it's that big of an issue that you have to take the help of two other S-class mages, why not take the whole team?" the brunette suggested, although the way she stated it seemed to be more of a demand than anything else.

Erza, noticing the slight undertone in the opposite girl's voice, smirked. "Sure. The more, the safer it is."

'_Uhm…Erza. I don't think that's how it works for Fairy Tail.' _The whole guild thought in unison. They wisely decided to keep silent.

"Never mind with possibly being Fairy Tail's strongest team. That _is _Fairy Tail's strongest team now!" Mira exclaimed happily to herself as she began to hum and write on a piece of paper that would later be read by Master.

Back to the group of six now, which consisted of Erza, Cana, Gray, Natsu, Happy, and Lucy, (**A/N: Lucy wanted to complain how I named her after the flying cat. I'm pretty sure that Happy is more useful that her at the moment…**) they continued to remain silent until Erza spoke with an authoritative tone.

"We're leaving in an hour. Be at the station on time." Cana didn't like the tone in Erza's voice but decided to remain silent. Natsu, who seemed to suddenly regain his natural character and complexion stopped the armored mage just before she exited the guild.

"Erza, let's fight!" The whole guild sighed, making the first sound since Erza first entered the building. Natsu would be Natsu…more specifically, an idiot. Erza seemed to be the only one not to sigh as she just smiled and said, "After the mission."

Taking that as a promise, Natsu grinned and lit his hands aflame starting to sprint out of the guild. Right when he was about to exit, however, he suddenly skidded to a stop and creaked slowly around to face the rest of the team that was following him at a safe distance away.

"Wait…did she say the train station?" Natsu asked after a moment of pause, and no small amount of worry and fear evident in his voice.

"Aye," Happy stated.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N: Holy crap...I don't know why but I'm super scared to publish this. **

**It's been a while, huh? Yeah, it sure has been. I've been busy. Surprise, surprise. Actually, I kind of am. It's summer…and I'm not really all that free. *sad face*. But hey, at least I'm doing something productive, right? Anyway, I missed writing. Since I've been gone for so long, I felt that it was extremely difficult to write like I used to, however, so I hope you didn't get to upset.**

**Leave lots of reviews and especially constructive criticisms for my return. I think I actually need a lot of help. Also, your help means better stories and chapters, and that means more enjoyment for you. It's a beautiful circle, so go ahead and press that review button! And yeah...no flames, please?**

**Is it just me, or are Kingdom Hearts stories reaaaally well written? **

'**Till next time!**

**KenzoXShuyita, out!**


	13. Chapter 12: The Return

**Chapter 12: Predator and Prey and the Return**

**A/N: College is a bitch. I'm not in college yet, but for those of you who are, I'm telling you, and you'll probably agree, that applications are a bitch.**

**Anyway, this is my update on the Storm King. Next update is going to be The Dark Flash! **

**Sorry for taking so long. Oh, by the way, did you know that thanks to you guys, I'm in the top 100 stories for Naruto crossovers? Also, did you know that I'm top ten in this specific crossover section? Thanks so much, you guys! It's amazing to see how far my stories have gone, considering how I started and what I expected from writing on this site. Amazing how things change. **

**Information on the Story: Fairy Tail is a powerful guild. There's your information…not. Okay, Jose is an insane guy. He wanted to be better than Fairy Tail, so he wanted as many S-class mages as possible. That is why there are more S-classes stated in this story than on the actual manga. **

**WARNING: MANY TIME SKIPS AND XSHUYAX STUFF AHEAD! BEWARE THE FLASHFOWARD NO JUTSU!**

**Hope you enjoy. Oh yeah, this story now has exactly 101,000 words (not anymore). Yes, I did the math and added them up just to make it perfect with one's and zero's. And yes, what I'm doing right now is killing space and adding words, and you're probably wasting your time reading all of this. But either way, I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all!**

**Chapter 12 START**

"Ugh…" Natsu moaned in utter pain. The motion sickness that he was going through at the moment was utter hell. The stronger the dragon slayer, the stronger the vertigo from motion sickness was. So, it was reasonable to assume that his motion sickness was enough to make any normal person throw up; thankfully, Natsu hadn't done so as of yet. Then again, he wasn't normal either.

"Natsu, come here," Erza ordered. Natsu complied from his position, moving towards the scarlet haired knight, not thinking clearly at the moment. Half a second later, Natsu was knocked out from a solid headbutt; his head against her chest armor was no competition…actually, some competition. Admit it: Natsu's forehead was pretty damn strong.

"Is that okay?" Lucy asked, concerned for her mission partner. She knew he was a knucklehead and was pretty headstrong in every sense of the word, but even she had some heart for the pink-haired teen.

"It's fine. 'Flames-for-brains' doesn't have to worry about his head," Gray stated nonchalantly. With a wave of his hand to emphasis his point, Gray indicated Natsu, who was now sleeping peacefully on Erza's lap, his eyes replaced with circular swirls.

"I…see." She replied, but not without some hesitation in her voice. She couldn't really see how it was fine, but they knew the hothead more than she did, so she'll just trust them and let him be.

To gather their attention, Erza coughed into her hand. Once she was certain that all of them were focusing on her, she began her explanation for why she had asked for them to help her. A dark guild, Eisenwald, and their possession of one of Zeref's demonic magics was enough to warrant a threat as well as a response. The rest of the group agreed, except for Natsu, who was clearly still knocked out.

"So, what's the plan?" Cana asked. Any of the mages onboard the train could have taken the position of leader, but she decided to leave Erza as the leader for this mission; after all, the scarlet-haired mage was the one to discover the actions of the Dark Guild. Why dark guild members would speak so loudly in a public restaurant that an S-class mage could hear perfectly well was completely questionable, but whatever got them in trouble was fine with her.

"I heard that they were making a _delivery _to a certain port," Erza said, putting a certain emphasis on 'delivery'.

"So that's why we're going there right now," Gray stated, finally understanding the situation they were currently in. "If that's the case, we didn't need four S-class mages for this kind of thing, right?"

"Did you forget about the fact that they have **Lullaby **and are planning on possibly performing a mass murder? I don't care if four mages is considered overkill; there is no such thing in my mind when the consequences are extremely dire, as this case is. The possibilities are endless with that kind of death magic, and we have to put a stop to it before their act can even begin," Erza explained in a confident tone.

"I agree. We have to drop the curtains on the stage before their grand play can even begin," Cana replied, agreeing with Erza's reasoning whole-heartedly. Any unreasonable deaths were unjustifiable in her eyes. If thousands of people died because one S-class mage did not participate, that one person could not justify their absence for anything in the world in her eyes.

"Okay, good to know you agree," Erza said slowly, eyeing Cana with a somewhat grateful look before returning to her stoic, serious visage. "Although the dark guild has only one A-class mage, do not underestimate the group at any moment; desperate people who have reached the bottom have nothing else to lose. If they are too far gone…we will do what we have to do," she finished, remembering a certain blond explaining the exact same concept.

"_Sometimes, there are people you just can't reason with. No amount of logical reasoning and talking will change their mind. When you are certain that that person is beyond change...you do what you have to do."_

Everyone except Lucy and Natsu widened their eyes in slight surprise, letting their emotions show clearly. That sounded…so familiar to what Naruto said one time. Did the two simply reach similar conclusions, or did something go on between the two that no one knew about?

Instead of speaking her mind, Cana decided to let it go and instead just told Erza "I agree. So, who far are we away from our first destination?"

"The first town should come up in just a few minutes. Be prepared to leave."

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Few minutes later)**

"You know, I'm really jealous of you, having a legal guild and all." Natsu didn't respond, struggling to not throw up at the moment. However, Kageyama continued, as if Natsu hadn't ignored him. "And you guys have been getting really famous lately. There's Mira in the Sorcerer's Weekly, and now you have a bunch of S-class mages."

"…"

Suddenly, a foot slammed into Natsu's face as Kageyama's visage took on a darker complexion as the man leaned forwards, pressing against his foot even more.

"Don't ignore me, you irritable fly. It makes it seem as if you're looking down on me." Natsu suddenly opened his eyes and stood up, his flames roaring in his hands in a moment…until he realized that they were still moving.

"Oh, Kami, I don't feel good." Natsu belched out, his flaming hands beginning to lose their flare.

"Is that supposed to be a magic trick, fly?" The man across the seat asked sarcastically. "Here, let me show you how _real _magic is done, boy!" As soon as Kageyama felt his magic kick in, a shadow erupted from the ground and landed a solid hit on Natsu's chin.

"Urk!" The pink-haired dragonslayer let out a sound of pain when he slammed against the train's end. Suddenly, however, the train stopped. Feeling his heavy feeling of pain and vertigo disappear, he looked up from the floor with a feral grin as he wiped his arm across his chin.

"The train…it stopped moving…" Natsu stated. Kageyama looked at the dragonslayer as if he were an idiot; of course the train stopped moving. Anyone could notice that! "Let me…RETURN THE FAVOR!" Natsu shouted, exploding off the ground, suddenly appearing in front of his opponent with a lovely, flaming fist of blue in front of the man's face.

"AAHH!" Kageyama screamed, flying away from the impact of the punch, bouncing on the ground on the aisle multiple times until he crashed through the train door. Right when Natsu gave him his return punch, the man's shoulder-bag flew up and gracefully, and luckily, landed on Natsu's shoulder.

"And that's a _fly _punch without magic! Huh? Oh, is that a flute? Woah, it looks so cool! I'm gonna take this!" Looking at the flute in curiosity and slight trepidation, he argued with himself mentally before making his decision. Grabbing the flute, he threw the bag at the man that had picked a fight with him and then jumped out the window, not wanting any part of a train that was just about to start moving.

Hey, the guy punched him and said crap about his guild. He was being nice by only taking a flute; they were replaceable. Right?

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Magical Four-Wheeled Vehicle)**

"That's the train, but which compartment is Natsu in?" Lucy asked, clearly worried. She was looking carefully at each window desperately, trying to get a single clue on where that pink-haired idiot could be. Suddenly, she widened her eyes; she saw something flash for a moment.

"I'm not sure. I think we were in the third car, so this should be right!" Gray shouted from his position atop the vehicle. He looked over at Erza, making sure she was still in fighting condition. She seemed fine for the moment, so he resumed his search for that idiot rival of his.

"Wait, I think I saw something!" Lucy stated. Not a moment later did Natsu come crashing out of the train window with something in his hand. Realizing that he was on course for a great crash with Gray, he expelled flames from his feet, righted himself by performing a quick aerial, and began to propel himself forwards until he was flying at the same speed as the vehicle.

"Natsu, get in the vehicle now!" Cana shouted from her position next to Lucy. Said mage complied, dropping the flames from his feet and landed next to Gray. Then, he quickly jumped into the vehicle, although he immediately regretted the action; the feeling from hell returned all at once, making him feel extremely queasy.

"Hey, Natsu? What is that in your hand? Is that a toy?" Happy asked curiously, eyeing the flute with a glint in his eye. It certainly looked interesting with its skull-like visage at the end of the flute.

"Wait…" Cana muttered to herself, trying to recall if she knew what Lullaby looked like. Realizing that she didn't, she called for Erza, who immediately switched places with Gray. The change in drivers was extremely noticeable; Erza was reckless and fast, while Gray was even faster and even more reckless. The change was most noticed by Natsu, who began to clutch his stomach.

"What's the problem?" The scarlet haired swordswoman inquired once she got into the vehicle. She then saw the flute in Natsu's hand and widened her eyes, almost immediately recognizing the lethal weapon in the dragonslayer's grip. "Wait, that's Lullaby! How did you get that?"

Natsu let a look of confusion wash across his face among other not-so-nice expressions, raising the hand that held the flute and giving it a pointed look. "What, this? I just took it from a guy that picked a fight from me, that's all." He managed to tell Erza, despite the stomach cramps that were beginning to turn into torturous irritation.

"Stop, Gray!" Erza shouted from inside, to which the order was quickly complied to. A bit too quickly, since all of the persons inside the vehicle fell over and crashed to the front side in a shameless heap of three girls and one boy.

"I'm…gonna puke…" Natsu muttered, his eyes replaced with swirls. Lucy immediately shrieked and pushed the boy off of her, hoping that Natsu wouldn't puke on her. Natsu started to make gagging motions as he hobbled over to the door. As soon as he fumbled the knob open, he tumbled forwards and let his stomach out.

"Geez…well, at least we have the flute, right?" Cana stated calmly from the bottom of the human pile, completely calm despite the strange situation.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Two Hours)**

Gray couldn't believe what he was seeing. The dark guild was actually coming to face them to retrieve 'their' magic of death, **Lullaby**. He didn't think that they would actually come for it and fight them for it. Oh well, it seems that some people were a lot more simple than he thought.

"So…how are we going to do this? Do we have to do this the hard way for us to get it back?" The Shinigami asked after a moment of silence passed between the two parties. Erza and her group of companions remained silent. A dreadful grin stretched his face as Shinigami realized that it was fight. "The hard way it is."

Suddenly, Shinigami was flying through the air, dashing at the group. However, he made one vital mistake; he dashed in by himself, assuming that the rest of his guild would be right behind him, despite his speed in the air. How wrong he was.

"**Flame Barrier**!" Natsu shouted as pillars of flames rose all around the dark guild members, trapping them inside of circle of hot, white flames. Just to get the point across, Cana threw ten cards just outside of the pillars. A few seconds later, the cards lit up as gusts of wind were expelled from the tarot cards, exacerbating the flames as they increased in size and intensity.

"Lucy, he's all yours!" Natsu said, a wide grin on his face. He wanted to fight the Shinigami, but he knew that the man was only A-class at most; it would probably be over in a few seconds. There was a huge difference between a low S-class and a high A-class; some people would stay high A-class for their whole lives, never to reach the higher echelon of power.

"Huh, me?" Lucy cried in surprise; she knew that the man in front of her was powerful, and in her eyes, unbeatable against her. She was B-class at best, and that wouldn't be much against the man in front of her. But then again…didn't Cana say something about class making that big of a difference in certain situations? Maybe this was one of those situations.

Well, there was no time to think! Shinigami had recovered from the surprise of seeing his whole guild surrounded by a dome of flames and was once more charging forwards with renewed fervor. Lucy expertly grabbed one of her keys and raised it to the air, chanting the required saying as she grabbed her whip on her other hand.

"**Open, Gate to the Golden Bull: Taurus**!" A light enveloped the field as the key began to shine brightly. Erigor raised his scythe to block the light from reaching his eyes, but he was still blinded momentarily…which Lucy immediately took advantage of. Half a second later, the flying man crashed against the ground. Another half second later, he was pinned to the ground by an extremely heavy weight that sat on him and kept him stuck to the ground.

"Wait, that's it?" Lucy asked, surprised at how quickly the battle seemed to have finished. Just one move? "I was expecting a bit more from an A-class mage, to be honest. Not to be mean or anything." Erigor was struggling to get up, now using wind to try to help him escape, but it was all to no avail. Taurus was simply too heavy.

"It was because you got the drop on him," Natsu explained, but even he had a frown on his face. "But man…that was boring." The rest of the Fairy Tail mages concurred.

"Are you trying to get up, puny human?" Taurus taunted? Erigor struggled with all of his might, but Taurus pressed his butt even harder against the man's back. To slam the lid on the coffin with twenty nails, Taurus...farted. It was literally so foul that the air around the gas seemed to turn into a different color. Natsu and Happy puked, all of the girls wrinkled their nose, and Gray encased himself in ice. Erigor? He fainted.

Erigor and his dark guild was taken in by the Rune Knights the same day, although it was said that Erigor somehow escaped. Weird. It almost seemed like Erigor was happy to be taken away from the Fairy Tail wizards, so why did he run away?

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: A few weeks later)**

Mira was just finishing up the night, cleaning up the bar and washing the silverware and cups that were all around the guild on the tables. Levi and her group were still inside, just talking quietly through the night. They had been sitting at their table for the last two hours, giving their respective goodnights to all of the members that had left for the night.

Hikaru was also inside, talking with Mira with ever his ever enthusiastic nature.

"Geez, Hikaru," Mira pouted, her eyebrows rising a few millimeters in consternation. "Can't you tell I'm working? Ask me out some other time!"

"I didn't even say anything about asking you out _today_," he said in reply as he stood up and walked around the bar counter. Silently, he picked up a rag and began to wipe down the counter and kitchen inside the guild. This was kind of a customary thing between the two. Starting about…well, Mira couldn't really remember, but Hikaru began to help her clean up at night. For some reason, Hikaru would flirt with everybody but show an actual interest in only Mira. She knew this, but she still didn't know what to think about him.

He was one strange guy. He had antics as bad as her favorite blond, and he seemed to have secrets as well.

"Why don't you go early tonight? I'll handle the rest," Hikaru said from behind Mira, his back to her as he picked up a cup and began to wash it out. Willing to take any opportunity to leave early, especially recently after the Galuna Island that Natsu's team had done which resulted in many tourists and reporters, she thanked Hikaru and walked quickly out of the guild building into the somewhat cold night, but not before saying her farewells to team **Shadow Gear**.

The Galuna Island mission was just another S-class mission that turned out to be a goldmine. Gray met his old…friend? Well, rival. But he was somewhat delirious at first, from what she learned. Well, at least he finally got over his old master's death and realized that there was really nothing he can do for her now, other than be happy for her and keep her in his memories and heart.

But obviously, that wasn't the goldmine. Feelings are priceless, but feelings don't make gold. The money came in like a tidal wave when the demons gave all seventy _million_ Jewels to Natsu's team. He wouldn't have problem with food and rent payment for a long time. As for Lucy, she wouldn't have to worry about rent for years. Lucky little girl, getting such a high payment in her first two months in the guild. Honestly, the chances of that happening were negligible.

Mira was silent the rest of the way, thinking little thoughts as she made her way home in the darkness. She didn't even know something would go wrong that night, the smile completely misplaced with the event that was currently happening back at the guild.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Fairy Tail Guild Building)**

"Oh, so there were still some Fairy flies flitting around the area, huh?" A rough voice stated, more to himself than to the team of three currently leaving to go home. Team **Shadow Gear **immediately went on guard. That voice was taunting and hostile; the person was putting down Fairy Tail and was releasing Killing Intent at the same time.

Out of one of the alleyways near the building, a cylindrical stone shot out at high speeds toward the three, but it was quickly dodged by all three. However, the attack from the unknown offender didn't stop, instead continuing until it crashed through the guild wall, making a sickening crack and resounding crackle of wood and metal.

All three of them were staring at shock at the now receding large rod of metal; it seemed to be made out of some high quality metal, and was extremely dense.

"Okay, who in Kami's name think he or she is, ruining the tables right after I fixed them up?" An irritated voice asked from inside the building. A few steps were heard from inside until the guild doors opened and Hikaru became visible in all black clothing. He was wearing black jeans with a black shirt, and to top it all off was a black cloak that covered the majority of his body. His white eyes caught on to the last inches of metal that went back to the alleyway.

"Another Fairy? Oh well, more fun for me!" The same voice exclaimed in subtle excitement. Hikaru grit his teeth and made a sound that was eerily similar to a growl.

"Get the hell out here so I can kick your ass." The unknown person laughed with a deep, maniacal attitude, one that sent shivers down all of Team **Shadow Gear**. Hikaru narrowed his eyes, not at all perturbed by the laughter; he had heard worse and had seen worse in his missions. Footsteps became audible as the person took slow steps out of the alleyways and into the street. Then, half of the man's face became visible, which was enough for Hikaru to recognize him.

"You three, get out of here." Levy, Jet, and Droy all were about to argue, but Hikaru shut them down. "That guy over there-" the white haired teen pointed at the fully visible Gajeel, who was smirking, "-is an S-class mage from Phantom Lord. You three wouldn't last five minutes against him. Go…now." He ordered in an authoritative tone.

"But-"

"**Now**!" Hikaru said, his eyes leaving the person in front of him to give Levy and her two teammates a withering stare. They nodded their head hesitantly under his look and turned and ran, hoping to find some help.

As soon as they were out of sight and a decent distance away from the street, Hikaru sighed and glared at Gajeel.

"What do you want, Gajeel?" Said teen smirked.

"Nothing. Just want to beat up some fairies and ruin the guild building, that's all. Send a message, you know?" He replied flippantly, an arrogant smirk in place.

"Yeah, you can shove that message up your ass," Hikaru growled in return. The street seemed to become darker as a large magical presence made itself known, Hikaru. Gajeel noticed that the whole street seemed to lose its color. Not the black and white kind of color. Just pure black. Everything was becoming black and unrecognizable around him. "You made a mistake, _boy_, deciding to fight me in **my domain**." As the last of the light receded from the area, Gajeel watched with surprise as Hikaru seemed to disappear from sight; only his head was visible, but that disappeared when the white hair and eyes went underneath the hood of the cloak.

"What is this? Wait, this feels…malevolent for some reason." Gajeel said to himself. Suddenly, he gasped in surpriseas his stomach caved inwards from a gut wrenching punch. He immediately threw a vicious right cross to try to connect with his assailant, but all he hit was air and darkness. Another punch landed on his ribs, and barely a moment later, a kick connected against the back of his left knee.

What was surprising to Gajeel was the fact that the person was able to make his hits _hurt_. He was the **Iron Dragon Slayer**, so he had a much higher natural defense. The fact that this _fly _was able to override the defense and make the punches actually rattle the bones inside his body meant two things. One, that the person packed quite a punch. Two, that he wasn't trying hard enough.

Well, from what the dragonslayer of **Phantom Lord **was able to gather before all of the light from the night disappeared, the person he was fighting didn't look weak. Not at all. In fact, Gajeel was pretty sure that he had seen the person before; there weren't that many people with purely white hair.

This process of blind blocking and defense continued until Gajeel's ire reached its limit. Frustrated, the black haired S-class shouted as a he made a quick circle with his arms straight out as they became extremely long steel rods. One of the rods shook, and Gajeel smirked. He had finally hit flesh.

"There are you, you damn fly." No response. "You should be injured from that, you bastard. Fighting only in the darkness, is that all you got, coward?" Gajeel taunted with an excited snarl. He was acting like an animal; the moment he hit something, his blood level rose and his excitement reached its peak. It was feeding time for him.

"You know…" a voice said behind Gajeel right into his ear. The surprised teen jumped forwards and turned around, but his eyes showed nothing in the pitch black darkness. "…you seem to be very talkative. You get overexcited from just a single connected hit. **Malevolent Force**."

Gajeel couldn't see it, but he could definitely feel the oncoming attack. He jumped to the side, and it was just in time. A huge explosion of dirt and wood roared from the ground, coming down in clumps.

'_Tch, I can't see him. Fine, I'll play his game. I'll just use my other senses!' _With that decided, the dragonslayer closed his eyes and focused on his enhanced sense of smell and hearing. Before, he wasn't focusing on the two other senses since he was too surprised by the darkness. Wait, darkness?

Gajeel began to cackle once he realized what kind of magic was in use. "You…hahaha, I'm so excited. You use **Dark Magic**!" Gajeel snarled excitedly. Oh, he was still irritated that the _fly _landed so many hard hits on him, but a good fight just got his blood rushing. And the irony! The man was using **Darkness**, and he was a _Fairy_! What was Earthland coming to? "So much for Fairy Tail's **White Mage**!" He sneered in amusement. A swift cross to his face was the response.

"_You talk too much_," Hikaru replied in a markedly different tone. It was much more cold and detached. Gajeel righted his shoulder and cracked his neck before lowering into his stance.

"And you're too quiet. Enjoy the fight a little, _fly_. I'll show you the strength of **Phantom Lord**," Gajeel told his opponent with a massive shit-eating grin making its way to his face.

"You don't know what you're messing with," Hikaru replied as the magic in the air began to build up from the two increasing their magical output. "But I guess a child doesn't need to know, since he likes to hear his voice more than to listen to their betters."

"Enough talk! I want to fight!" Gajeel roared as his skin began to harden, signified by the crackling sounds on his body.

"Those were my sentiments from the beginning. It's good to know you finally learned to listen," HIkaru muttered. Suddenly, his pair of glowing white eyes became visible for a flash of a moment before they slowly began to turn black.

"Gehehe! You're mine!"

"Your screaming is sure to bother the citizens of the town. I'll put you down so you won't be a bother!"

And then the two met again in a clash, and again, and again, each time more ferocious than the last. The street was slowly tearing down and breaking apart from the magical clashes.

By the time Levy's group found some backup from the sleepy members of their guild, it was too late. They arrived at their guild building…only to find it pierced with multiple huge, iron rods. And on top of the door, there was a bloody Hikaru crucified, his head hanging low.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Next Day)**

"WE ARE FAIRY TAIL! GAJEEL, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!" Natsu roared. White, searing hot flames flew out of his mouth as his obviously agitated eyes flew across the room, trying to search for one specific person. His heavily narrowed eyes and his nose couldn't specifically spot the person that put Hikaru is such a state, but he _knew _that the bastard was inside.

"Fine, don't come. But I know you're here, and you're going to watch the rest of your guild get their asses kicked!" Natsu shouted as he released all of his seals, a bright, blue light surrounding him for a few seconds before it slowly began to disappear. "You're all mine!" The dragonslayer roared before he disappeared, leaving behind a wake of flying Phantom Lord mages.

"Master, should I help you against Jose?" Erza asked, slashing deftly through two of the Phantom Lord mages standing in her way. Makarov shook his head quickly, clearly giving his decision.

"I'm going alone. You may be S-class Erza, but this is a battle of Wizard Saints. This is a whole different level." Erza nodded her head in understanding before her eyes narrowed, slowly falling into her serious disposition.

"All of you will pay…" the scarlet-haired mage promised to herself before flashing into one of her armors and crushing all opposition.

"Oh my, so many boys just for me? I'm so _FLATTERED_!" Cana said angrily. She, like Natsu, had been barely holding back her anger, and now that she could let it go…she was going all out. She rushed at the person in front of her, dodging the haymaker at her face on the way. The moment she reached the first person, she slid on the ground, dodging the punch aimed at her exposed stomach. As soon as the appendage flew above her head, she grabbed it and threw it over her, forcing the opponent mage to go flying above her. In a practiced motion, she performed a back roll, stopping on her neck, and then pushed up with frightening accuracy as she furiously slammed her boots on the stomach of the airborne mage. The result was a few very satisfying cracks of the ribs.

And this all happened in just two seconds. Now standing on her feet again, she eyed the circle of mages around her as she fingered the five cards in her hand.

"Let's play, boys."

"Why don't you all just be some good boys and stay still for me, would ya'?" Gray asked rhetorically to the group of frozen mages around him. His eyes rose to the ceiling before they narrowed in recognition. "Hey, Natsu, I think I found somebody you'll like."

"**Who**?" Natsu asked, still completely in rage mode. Looking up to the ceiling with the assistance of Gray's pointed finger, he spotted a certain somebody leaning casually on the crosses of wood. "GAJEEL!" Natsu roared, flying upwards by emitting flames from the bottom of his feet.

"Let's do this, fellow dragonslayer! Let's see who's dominant!"

"You're going the hell down, you bastard!" Natsu roared, meeting Gajeel in a glorious headbutt.

"Erza, something's strange…" Gray said, speaking his suspicions that were bothering him for quite some time. He would've said it to Cana, but she was currently beating the crap out of her opponents.

"I thought something was amiss as well," Erza replied. The two seemed to be in concurrence. All of the S-class mages other than Gajeel were missing…meaning seven were missing. She took another careful look around; nope, just a bunch of fighting mages. No mage absolutely shitting on everyone else.

"This isn't good." Gray said. A second later, the ceiling crumbled into itself as someone fell through with the falling wood and metal. The mages that took the moment to look upwards immediately recognized the person.

"Master!" Erza shouted.

Natsu took a moment to look at the falling figure, hearing the cry of Erza. He returned his glare to Gajeel and disappeared, landing a heavy punch against the other mage. Then, he jumped for the master, barely catching him before he landed on the unforgiving floor. Making sure that his master was alright, Natsu was frightened to realize that the master seemed extremely pale and worn out…almost…dying.

"We have to get out of here now!" Erza shouted, her orders heard clearly over the battle occurring in the building. The Fairy Tail mages didn't understand what was happening but complied nonetheless; they were winning, but if Erza said so, they would listen.

The Fairy Tail mages quickly fell back; before Natsu ran out, he let himself give one more glare to the mage staring back with extreme arrogance. The pink haired dragonslayer gnashed his teeth together to a grind.

"I'll destroy you next time," he promised silently to himself before turning back and sprinting to where Porlyusica lived. Before he was out of hearing distance, however, he heard something about Lucy…and her being kidnapped. His teeth grinding became audible.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Magnolia Town)**

"Drip drop…Juvia is a rain woman. Juvia brings rain." A blue haired teen said to herself. She was wearing all blue; a blue coat with white fur on the edges. Her skirt was blue, and even her boots were blue. All of this seemed very out of the fashion statement, but Lucy decided not to say anything.

The two met eyes, and Lucy felt herself freeze for a moment.

"What do you bring?" The teen Lucy assumed was named 'Juvia' asked.

'_Why does she speak in third person? And what did she ask again?'_

"Erm…what were you saying?" Juvia passed by the girl, ignoring the question.

"I had fun, farewell." She said. As she walked away, the rain followed. However, another strange person came into view, saying thirteen too many 'nons' in Lucy's opinion.

"Jubia-sama, you cannot walk away from your mission, your _sible_," The seemingly lopsided man chided, but there seemed to be no ill intent.

"Oh she's the target? I apologize, Heartfalia-sama. Juvia has orders to return you to Phantom Lord." She said. "Oh, Juvia forgot to introduce herself. Juvia is Juvia, the Water Elemental of the Four."

"And I am Sol of the Earth!" The other man said in an extremely irritating, dainty tone.

"Phantom Lord?!" Lucy shouted, immediately grabbing her keys. However, it was too late as water surrounded her in a large orb. She couldn't breathe! Well, she had her keys so maybe…

A bright light reflected throughout the water, becoming brighter and brighter as the key's power shone through.

'_Aquarius!'_

And like that, the key summon appeared, irritated. However, her irritation changed to surprise once she saw her master trapped inside water.

"Do you…enjoy this situation?" The summon asked, genuinely asking if Lucy was a masochist. Not so strangely, her voice was perfectly clear in the water. Lucy gurgled out a few precious bubbles of air. Aquarius took that as a no and quickly destroyed the water barrier before quickly fading away.

Lucy dropped to the ground in her knees, sopping wet. But that didn't matter at the moment. She raised one of her other keys, and another light lit up the alleyway.

"Go, Taurus!"

"Moooo! Lucy's boobs!" The perverted cow shouted as soon as it was summoned, charging at the Phantom duo. However, it was trapped by another bubble of water masterfully manipulated by Juvia. Taurus tried to fight back, swinging its axe back and forth sluggishly in the heavily resistant water, and it was obvious that nothing would come of it. But it fought anyway.

This was a moment when Lucy wished she was strong enough to bring out multiple summons at once. She barely had enough magic reserves to bring out one for a few minutes. Curse her thinking, why didn't she agree to train with Gray? She was so stupid! Thinking that the group of S-class mages would protect her.

'_Damn it…I guess this is it, huh?' _Lucy thought to herself, losing consciousness as another bubble took her into blissful sleep.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Fairy Tail Guild Building)**

Natsu slammed his fist against the table, clearly irritated. He just wanted to break something, but he knew he shouldn't do anything at the moment. The building was already on its last legs as it was; anymore, and it would possibly break down.

"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" He screamed, clearly frustrated as his pupils contracted. A hand on his shoulder brought him back to the world around him, but his irritation was still clear as day. "What is it, Cana?"

"…I know you're irritated, and we all are, but we have to wait for Master or at least until we are all recuperated. Save your energy for now, Natsu. I know it's hard, but you have to. Don't shake your head with me, Natsu!" Cana roughly sat down on the table so that she was looking at Natsu with a heavy stare. They looked at each other silently for a moment before Natsu finally relented and looked away.

"I'm just angry," he reasoned childishly. Cana let herself smile at that.

"We all are, Natsu. Trust me, we'll get our turn. To think they would actually take Lucy, though. How low can they get?" She asked loudly. To think they would take someone hostage…unbelievable. Well, she was returned with Lucy's fall of faith, but all in all, Phantom Lord was falling lower and lower in Cana's eyes. Well, everyone's eyes to be more exact. No one had any real idea as to why this war had begun in the first place, but it was happening. There was no time like the present, and this was their reality at the moment.

"To get them back though will be difficult. They have eight S-class mages. Hikaru told me that Gajeel and some of their other mages trained intensely to catch up to Fairy Tail since Jose told them to reach S-class. Seems like Jose was hell-bent on having a powerful guild, especially after we reached S-class," Gray stated from the side, walking over to the other two in his team. Lucy was busy talking with Mira and Levy. As for Hikaru, he was in the hospital, slowly regaining his health, although it would probably take about a week for him to heal with help. He had managed to wake up recently, but he was mainly silent, going over his lost battle against Gajeel in his mind over and over again. His loss came as a shock to Cana, but she remained just as silent as Hikaru.

Suddenly, a rumbling shook the building. Everyone in the building lifted their heads, searching for the source of the rumbling. If it was Gildarts, that would literally be a godsend. However, their hopes were ruined when the rumblings came in constant intervals, not a continuous _crash_.

"Oh shit…" one of the members breathed out when he saw the first edges of what was causing the rumblings. Everyone looked over in his direction and then to where he was looking. They all promptly dropped their jaws and came to the same thought.

'_We are in deep shit'. _

The Phantom Lord guild building was literally _walking_ towards them. What the hell? How was that even possible? However, all confusion was swept away when the building cocked into place a large cannon…aiming straight at the Fairy Tail building.

"I never thought they would go this far just to destroy us…" Erza whispered. She was only wrapped in her towel, having run out of the shower the moment she felt the vibrations. When she saw the cannon, she immediately went into battle mode, ordering everyone to fall back as she changed into her **Adamantine Armor**…but not before dropping her towel and giving some people a free show.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Unknown Desert)**

Two people were walking side by side, their feet shifting in the sand as they crossed the desert. Both were wearing ripped, nondescript brown cloaks that covered the top of their body. To cover the rest, one was wearing a haori, and the other was wearing dark black and gray clothing and pants that only went down to the shins.

There was a taller male and a shorter male. It was quite obvious they were male by their body structure. Either way, both were quite tall, but for now, let's just say there was a height difference for the sake of easily classifying the person.

The taller male was quite large and bulky, but it was because the man was packed with muscle. Not a shred of fat could be seen. The man seemed to be carrying so kind of armor or weapon on his body, which was strange, but what was stranger was that the man was carrying nothing on his person other than a canteen of water.

As for the shorter man, he was much smaller than the larger companion. Tall, muscular, but lean. On his person was a canteen of water, like his partner, but he was also carrying a long, thick scroll on his back.

Suddenly, the shorter lifted his head and dropped the hood, revealing sun-kissed platinum colored hair and deep, bright blue eyes. The pair of eyes narrowed immensely in anger as Naruto's chakra levels rose to threatening heights. The blond gave the person next to him a quick clap to the back, a flash of light resulting from the seal imposed on the article of the clothing.

"I'll be right back."

Then, Naruto disappeared in a flash of light, The other man stopped walking as soon as his blond partner disappeared.

"Make sure it's quick, yeah?" He said to no one in particular, a deep voice rumbling from his stomach. Then, he continued his trek through the desert.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Fairy Tail Guild Building)**

"Erza! Get out of the way! The blast may kill you!" Macao yelled. Said girl ignored the warning and continued to stay strong, a determined look on her face as she increased her output of magic to try and reinforce the armor and her body.

***BOOOOOOOOOOM***

The Jupiter Cannon finally shot its projectile, a large, devastating beam of magic. It crossed the distanced between the two buildings in a heartbeat, but something was even fast.

A light emanated from one of the corners of the building. However, no one noticed it; the beam of destruction heading their way was probably the first thing on their mind.

"**Bijuu Sage Mode**!"

Something flashed in front of Erza and stopped the Jupiter Cannon's blast, redirecting the beam of energy to the sky. A moment later, the wind and dirt flew into the air. Whatever stopped the blast was ridiculous fast.

"**That was strike three. Whoever's attacking my family is dead**!" The person seethed. When the dust and dirt cleared and the wind died down, everyone beheld the sight of…was that Naruto? He was in a glowing orange haori with some strange markings and lines running along its length.

No one could see Naruto's face since he was in front of them all, his back to his guild mates. If they could see him, however, they would have seen the absolute _rage _on his face as he glared at the building in front of it, and with that, the people inside the building.

He knew what had happened, but he didn't flash back to the guild right away. He felt it when someone damaged the guild building, but he assumed it was just someone screwing around. Then he felt the whole building shudder under something, and then get pierced by…he wasn't sure. His seal, however, gave him extremely elementary details on what was occurring at the guild, and that was enough for him to make his assumptions. And he assumed that his guild was getting attacked, and that was the first strike.

The second strike came when he felt Lucy being taken away. Oh, he didn't know who it was, but the Fairy Tail insignia on each person's skin was an interest trick of art. It wasn't just a sign on a person's skin infused with magic; it was also a kind of tracker…in a way. Well, not really. Naruto had tampered with the guild stamp so that he could instinctively feel when any member was in danger. And he felt Lucy getting kidnapped in the deep recesses of his mind, but he was busy fighting and keeping his partner's back at the moment. Either way, there was no way for him to catch up by the time he had taken care of his attackers; whoever kidnapped Lucy were long gone.

And the third strike? Right now. The Jupiter Cannon. Something that he actually saw with his own two eyes instead of feeling through his seals or the guild insignia. He took in a deep breath, taking in the very nature into his chakra pathways as the silence continued. Focusing on each of the members in the guild and the people who had magic…he felt all of the Fairy Tail mages injured.

"Where's master?" He suddenly asked, his eyes still closed. Before anyone could make a reply, Jose spoke through an amplifying machine so that he was able to be heard.

"It seems that you were able to deflect the Jupiter Cannon, but no matter. We will still obliterate your guild, destroy all of you without any mercy, for we are the top, the alpha, the predator. And you…you _unsightly fairies_, are the prey!" Jose snarled maliciously, his voice simply exuding insanity. A moment of silence passed. "In fifteen minutes, the Jupiter Cannon will be recharged, and all of you will be finished!" Jose stated, imagining the future in his mind. Fairy Tail would end today as a heap of rubble!

"Where's Master?" Naruto asked again, this time in a much more obvious tone of anger. He was letting his emotions slip.

"He's with Porlyusica. He seemed to be dying from whatever Jose did to him, but he's fine now." Naruto remained silent. A whole thirty seconds passed; no one knew what to say to Naruto other than ask why he was gone for so long, but they knew he would answer that eventually, so they remained silent, waiting for whatever he would say. Besides, the majority of his team was still in shock at his return.

"I'm sorry, but can you guys back off, please?" Naruto asked, his killing intent and chakra release going out of control. "I know that all of you want a shot at him but…**I need to show him who's the prey and predator**!" The orange mist and energy surrounding Naruto slowly shifted into a crimson red as his anger started taking over him.

"No. I don't want to," Natsu shouted, denying Naruto. "Gajeel is mine!" He roared.

"I decline as well, Naruto" Cana stated. She walked up to him so that they were side by side. "And we're going to have a _nice _talk after this ordeal, mister." She promised, a sickening smile crossing her face. The rest of his team plus Erza and Mira agreed, although it was possible that the whole guild would bother him for a while as well.

Naruto didn't even bat an eyelash, instead preferring to glare at the walking guild building in front of him. He saw something on the edge of his vision coming towards them, but it would take just a few more seconds.

"…I'm going to assume the rest of you want a piece of them…I'm sorry, I was selfish. But…I'm warning you right now, I'm going all out." This statement raised a few eyebrows, but everyone remained silent. "What are you waiting for? Go kick some ass!" The blond yelled encouragingly, turning around for a moment so that everyone could see his face. He was smiling, but everyone saw the shift of his eyes. They went from orange to blood red with a vertical slit running the length of his pupil.

But they trusted him. And so everyone charged at the dark shades that Jose had summoned, while the S-class mages charged straight for the building. The finally returned blond remained still for a moment after all of the available S-class Fairy Tail mages had charge. Then he exploded, as red and orange chakra flew into the sky in a large dome. Then, slowly, and yet quickly, a shape began to form from the immense amount of chakra floating in the air. The Phantom Lord mages gawked at the sight before them. The chakra, or magic in their eyes, began to shape into some kind of figure. After a few gruesome seconds, it became clear that it was shifting into an an animal with four legs. Time passed very slowly; the pressure from the amount of chakra released was gigantic! Frightening!

Finally, the last patches were made, all the edges were made clean, and the final product emerged.

It was a giant, crimson fox with nine tails, and its eyes were fixated on the building.

"_**Attacking Master and insulting my guild was strike four, prey! You're fucking dead!" **_The fox roared, its voice a mixture between the teen that had transformed into the frightening fox and a monster.

Phantom Lord then realized they had made a mistake; Fairy Tail was strong, even without Naruto. With Naruto…they were monsters.

They were the predator.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N: Well, I felt that I was dragging the chapters on for too long. And besides, everyone knew what happens in canon, so I decided to skip straight to Phantom Lord Arc.**

**And bring the action. Please tell me what's wrong with this chapter, what I could do better, and ideas are always welcome! Constructive criticism is always preferred to flames. If you flame, Aquarius will not-so-kindly douse them in a tidal wave. :D**

**Kenzo, Peacing out!**


	14. Chapter 13: Gaps in Strength

**Chapter 13: Gaps in Strength**

**A/N: I'm soooo sorry! I didn't update in over a month and left it at a cliffhanger! Sorry! I'm evil, I know. I didn't mean to be. **

**Information on the Story: Nothing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't know. Life is mean, so I have no ownership or rights to Naruto or Fairy Tail…I want to be rich!**

**Chapter 13 START**

"_I want alcohol."_

_Cana Alberona_

Natsu ran down a random hallway, his quick footsteps echoing every time his sandals hit the floor. His eyes were narrowed as he searched for an enemy; he spread his senses and was completely on edge.

Strange. There was no one inside the building. Where was everyone? At that very moment, Natsu heard a mass amount of shouting from outside the enemy guild hall. Happy and the teen both turned to the sound, perking up at the especially loud shouts. Rushing over to the nearest window, he placed his hands on the window sill and looked out, widening his eyes when he saw what was happening. He grit his teeth.

They were played. It was a full-out war outside, with all of the members of **Phantom Lord **fighting against the **Fairy Tail **mages on the ground. The numbers weren't even either, since there were the dark ghouls coming from Jose, the leader of the enemy guild.

"Such a sad thing, isn't it?" Natsu whirled around, forcing himself to remove his eyes from the battlefield below. Every time he heard someone being struck down, he winced, even though he wasn't certain whether or not it was a Fairy Tail mage or a Phantom Lord mage.

Before Natsu was an exceptionally large man with a kind of blindfold covering his eyes. That was about all Natsu cared about, since that was all the information he needed to recognize the man in front of him. The dragonslayer narrowed his eyes and lit his hands, flames bursting in life. At first, it flared a deep crimson, red color, but it slowly changed into blue, and then white, the hottest he could create. Aria didn't seem fazed by this color change, but more intrigued.

"Oh, you can change the color of the flames?" Aria asked, his voice toned with a mix of interest and sadness.

"No. It changes based on how hot the flames are." He grinned, and raised his flaming fist into the air to emphasize his next point. "And these are the hottest flames you'll ever see." This statement seemed to sadden the man deeply.

"Oh, how sad that you will never make those flames again. Oh – the world is cruel. And all of your teammates and guild mates down there are getting crushed by our very mages, and you too, shall join them." Natsu narrowed his eyes.

"I think you're missing something, sad man. Fairy Tail won't lose, and we definitely will win when we have Naruto." The large man perked up at the name.

"Oh, the youngest S-class mage that left your guild and hasn't been seen by the world in two years? How sad that he left; even I can probably even beat him now." Natsu's flames roared, rising to a new degree of heat when he heard the insult. This guy just insulted Naruto! He won't forgive him for that.

"I'll beat you, and get to Jose. And I'll kick his ass until he realizes the mistake he made today." Natsu promised, sliding his right foot forward so that he was in battle position. "Release **Gravity **and **Resistance Seal Level 20**." A light covered the room, emanating from the pink-haired teen. Aria wasn't fazed by the light; the man stood calmly, suddenly fluxing his magic level when he felt the boy rushing at him at an impossibly fast speed.

Natsu appeared behind the man in mid-air, his fist cocked back for a punch. He threw his right arm forward.

"Take this!" he roared. An explosion erupted, forcing wooden planks and stone to fly into the air. Happy watched from the side, his eyes carefully analyzing the situation. The smile permanently stretched on his face belied the actual mindset the Exceed was in at the moment. This was a battleground. He would do everything he could to help Natsu. Although his partner could fly on his own now, that doesn't mean that he still couldn't be the eyes for his partner at times.

"It missed." He said to himself, almost questioningly. How did Natsu miss? The Exceed wasn't sure, but the fact was there. Aria was standing, unwounded and completely untouched. His clothes were billowing and flapping from the force of the punch that had struck the ground, but otherwise, the man's clothes were not violated. Natsu flipped backwards, landed a good twenty yards from his opponent. Natsu's eyes were carefully analyzing the man in front of him.

He had missed. He knew that. But the question was how. He was right behind Aria, and there should have been no time for him to move. In fact, his opponent still had his back to Natsu.

'_What's going on? I was certain I hit him, but all I struck was air.'_

"It appears that Naruto hadn't taught you well enough, despite the fact he is a **Wind **mage as well. How sad, for you will die for his lack of focus in teaching," Aria stated. Natsu's whole body burst into flames in response. Insult his friend once, he'll put that person into his rightful position. Insult him twice, he'll destroy that person.

"I'll destroy you. I'll make sure that you _never _insult my friends again!" He yelled just as his magical levels exploded again. His screaming continued as his level of magic kept on rising. "I'm not going easy on you anymore. Even if you scream for mercy, I'm not letting you off." He threatened, but it was a promise.

"You're standing right behind me. And I let you charge up, and yet you didn't take your chance to attack me." Aria turned around, his palms facing the teen. "**Metsu**". The airspace around Natsu exploded. The moment before the very air around the teen collapsed on itself and then expanded, much like a miniature supernova, Natsu widened his eyes.

"Natsu!" Happy shouted, deeply concerned.

"How sorrowful that such a powerful mage like you must be struck down by me!" Actual tears flew down the man's cheeks, evolving into a geyser as his sobbing became actual cries of grief.

"Who got struck down?" a voice asked from the very airspace that Aria had used his most powerful magical spell on. If his blindfolds were removed, they would've seen his eyes widen and his eyebrows rise to his forehead.

Natsu 's flaming body stood tall in the smoke that slowly disappeared, the teen's eyes glaring deeply and hatefully at the man in front of him. That spell…the goal was to kill him. If that was the case, he definitely wouldn't hold back. All of his attacks would be the intention to strike Aria down. Broken bones, loss of pride, destruction of property, all methods would be fair game now that Aria had made his stance perfectly clear to him.

"Ho-"

"How?" Natsu interrupted, expecting the question. His voice didn't change; usually, he would smirk or smile triumphantly when he did something his opponent couldn't understand, but not this time. This was a life or death situation, and he was certainly not in the mood to smile. His scowl increased. "You can't hit what you can't see."

"I see. So, you were just moving at such a speed that **Metsu **didn't collapse on you quickly enough. If that's the case…it seems you have forgotten something as well. I am a **Wind **mage, your absolute counter." Natsu raised his eyebrows; shouldn't it be the other way around. However, he didn't get the chance to retort or comment on the man's retardation, as Aria lifted his palms. Natsu felt multiple airspaces near him begin to collapse on itself, the majority of them near his area. He couldn't let any of them hit him.

"**Zetsu**." Natsu blurred from his position just as the first airspace exploded. Afterimages of the pink-haired dragonslayer appeared and dissolved into nothingness as the teen flashed across the room, all of his movement slowly closing in on his target. Flashing across the room, Natsu suddenly burst from one location to right in front of Aria, a foot right in front of the man's face.

Natsu's flying kick went straight through air, missing the man, although he was right in front of him. Happy's eyes widened; he saw what had happened.

"Natsu! He turns into body into air and restructures them at another point!" he shouted at his partner, explaining the phenomenon happening currently. Natsu landed cleanly and nodded his head, telling Happy that he had heard. Aria reappeared a few meters from Natsu, frowning.

"How sorrowful. Because you have found that out, I must kill both of you now! Oh – the pain of the funeral will be too great." Slowly, the man's blindfolds were removed, and they unraveled themselves before falling to the floor gracefully. Aria shot his eyes open; they were purple and glowing with a certain power as the man's magical level rose, but not the same degree as the dragonslayer. "Wind…is the true counter to fire."

Suddenly, Natsu began to choke and gasp for air as he was deprived of oxygen. The flames all around his body shut down and wisped out into nothingness. The teen dropped to the ground, clawing at his throat, struggling to breathe; a thin stream of precious oxygen entered his lungs, but it wouldn't be enough to last longer than a few minutes; he would only last a few more seconds if he had to fight at full potential.

Looking over at his partner, he saw Happy in the same plight as he was in. The cat Exceed was crying, straining to drink the very air.

Aria took a step forward. Natsu looked over at the man with one eye, his other eye closed.

"Sad, isn't it? I didn't even have to use my most powerful move, but this sphere and dome of no air is enough for someone like you. Fire cannot exist without oxygen to fuel it, and if I remove it, you can do nothing." Natsu only gasped for air in response. What the man didn't know was that the dragonslayer was not completely struggling for life; the boy was thinking, recalling a certain event.

**XShuyaX**

**(Flashback)**

"_Natsu, calm down. I know you can't say anything, but that's what happens when you're in a vacuum. No sound will come out. Natsu, sit down, and just look at me." The dragonslayer reluctantly complied, his eyes staring at the blond with a certain annoyance. He looked down at himself, and then visibly strained to use his magic. Naruto sighed._

"_Natsu, you can't use your flames in a vacuum, because there's no oxygen. Damn, if I had the chance, I would've recommended that you learned __**Wind **__magic, but we didn't have much time." Suddenly, Natsu breathed in deeply as the vacuum of air disappeared and was replaced with air and the needed oxygen. _

"_What the hell was that for?" Natsu asked, pointing at the blond with an accusing finger and staring at him with a pointed glare. The blond just smiled and chuckled to himself; Natsu was always fun to be with. His responses and reactions were priceless._

"_What did you recognize when you were in the vacuum?" Naruto asked. Immediately, Natsu dropped his glare and adopted a contemplative expression and pose, looking up into the air with a finger on his chin. _

"_Well…I couldn't make any kind of sound. And like you said, I couldn't make flames." Naruto nodded, glad the dragonslayer was actually thinking logically. "But I'm just wondering, if you could do that, couldn't you also do the reverse?" Naruto raised an eyebrow._

"_You mean place too much air into an area? Yeah, I can focus all of the oxygen into a specific location, but that's dangerous. Our bodies aren't made to break down and use oxygen at such a pure level. However, if I collaborated with you, the flames you create in that space would be much, much more powerful." Natsu gleamed at the simple prospect. "But that also means more destruction, and we don't exactly need that."_

"_No, I definitely want that!" Naruto just laughed. Of course Natsu wanted that._

**XShuyaX**

**(End Flashback)**

'_I was able to gasp and make a sound. This vacuum…it's not perfect!' _Natsu slowly lifted his body from the ground, raising his magical level for one technique that would definitely deprive him of all air and knock him out unconscious, or kill him, if he didn't get air immediately afterwards.

Aria had his back turned on the teen; he didn't even turn around or stop putting his blindfold on when he felt Natsu's magical levels rise to what he believed would be the last time in the boy's short life.

Natsu leaned backwards, staring up at the ceiling as he brought out the flames from his very core. Heat and flames sparked and flickered to life in his mouth.

'_Just a little more…NOW! __**FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR**__!' _

Natsu dropped his head and stared straight at his target as he focused his flames at Aria. He was right; the vacuum was not perfect. The fact that the flames even exploded forwards and flew five feet, a far cry from the twenty meters, was proof of that. Natsu dropped to the ground, out of breath, but not out of magical reserves. He would've tried to fight physically, but the man was able to use teleportation, or whatever his physical disassembling of his body was. This was his last gamble.

Aria continued to walk away, keeping the vacuum up and all of the oxygen only in his immediate area. However, if he had turned around after his first step, he would've seen Natsu smirk and mouth the word 'Boom.'

An explosion of white, searing hot flames burst into life. The heat of a supernova took over the immediate area that Aria had placed his oxygen circle. He screamed, crying out in pain and deep agony as his very skin began to burn and crawl, beginning to rot and crawl off his body. He was trying to make his body turn into air particles, but it was impossible; the flames were sucking up and breathing in the very oxygen and air like a vortex, preventing him from turning into the very thing that he needed. If he turned into air, he would become used by the flames, so it was lucky that he wasn't able to.

Natsu breathed in deeply, as did Happy, filling their lungs with the much-needed oxygen. Both of them watched the light show before them. Their eyes reflected the roaring flames, crackling and laughing as it overcame the **Wind **mage that had proclaimed that he was the very counter to flames. Ironic how his very counter would be his undoing.

When the flames finally died down, Natsu stood up and walked towards the burnt man, who had third-degree burns all over his body. However, he didn't feel an ounce of sympathy; the man was alive, and he should be thankful. True, Natsu didn't really plan on killing the man, and he didn't want to, but if he did, he wouldn't feel too guilty about it. It would bother him and he would talk about it to his teammates, but he wouldn't become a completely different person because of it. He would do it to protect.

Aria gasped in the very air that he was so casually breathing a few seconds before. Everything hurt. His flesh was so raw…his back was screaming, and it wasn't even moving. It was barely touching the ground, and his fragile skin was crying for him to get up, but his feet and legs were commanding him to remain still. His clothes were destroyed; somehow, he was still covered enough to keep his dignity, but he had lost.

"And you know what the very counter to **Wind **is? It's **Fire**. Come on, Happy. Let's get to Jose so we can kick his ass!" When they were passing the defeated S-class mage, Natsu stopped, looking down at him. "Oh, and if you were a master of **Wind**, then you would've increased the density of the air to slow me down while you were using **Zetsu**. But you didn't even think of it. If you're a master…then Naruto is the god of **Wind**. Fairy Tail will win!"

And he left with that. A second later, a bestial roar outside pierced everyone's ears, the sound echoing through the whole town. The ceiling of the room was removed forcefully as a chakra paw viciously tore through the building, destroying the structure and loosening some of the stone and supports. Aria, who couldn't move, was in the exact location a few hundred pounds were falling. Right before they reached him, the falling debris and stones stopped and diverged, barely missing.

Just because he was defeated didn't mean he still couldn't use magic. He just couldn't do anything against other mages; he would easily lose.

**XShuyaX**

**(Location: Outside)**

"Naruto, where the hell is the backup?" Cana shouted, expecting clones to appear at any time. However, the blond didn't respond, roaring with anger as he swiped his arm across his body, his chakra construct copying the motion and destroying a part of the **Phantom Lord **guild building. He had already destroyed the **Jupiter Cannon**, which peeved Jose greatly, but there was nothing the man could do about it. Here was a blond upstart ruining all of his master plans! Well, it didn't matter. He was one of the ten Wizard Saints! Nothing would stop him, or at least nothing short of Master Makarov or Gildarts, but both of them wouldn't be here. His plan would go on, and Fairy Tail would be destroyed today.

Naruto looked down at the girl who had asked him for back-up. No, he wouldn't send clones. He would give some help to his guild mates, but this was their fight, just as much as it was his. He would save the Fairy Tail mages that were in danger of getting caught in an attack that could cause death, but he wouldn't stop anything else. His friends would be insulted if he did everything.

'_How much longer can I hold this form for?' _While slamming his chakra construct's fist through another part of the roof of the building, he took a moment to look into himself and check his reserves. _'I can't stay any longer than another three minutes, but that's more than enough. I've destroyed a majority of the building's structures and supports, and the roof is pretty much gone.' _Naruto narrowed his eyes and focused at one location that he had slammed through; there was the damn rat of a leader! Erza, Gray, Elfman, and Mira were in front of Jose, each of them staring at the man with a determined gaze; Natsu had gone off and was now fighting Gajeel near their Guild building. This assault will end, and the only victory they would accept would be their own.

"You're asking me why? It's because I had to watch Fairy Tail rise in popularity and take all the mission away from us as we slowly receded into second for the top guilds! I won't accept that!"

Naruto suddenly froze and cut off his roar, his chakra construct stopping mid-strike. His eyes suddenly dulled and his pupils shrunk until it was barely visible. Had his sensitive ears heard Jose properly? Apparently, he had. Erza was yelling at the failure of a guild leader as he laughed, telling her it was more than just a competition.

Everyone stared at the chakra –made fox, which was beginning to break down. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared, and its creator began to fall to the ground. Cana and the rest of the Fairy Tail members was wondering what the hell was up with the blond. They needed the help! The shades were still coming, and the mages were still attack the Fairy Tail mages and their building! However, the moment the blond touched the ground, almost majestically, slowing down until he just tapped the ground, he began to walk forwards.

The blond had gathered the complete and undivided attention of the **Phantom Lord **mages when he had dropped out of his **Bijuu Mode**, and they believed they had a chance.

"The blond is out of his transformation! Attack him now!"

"Kill him! Go, Phantom Lord!"

But Naruto didn't care about the shouts and the threats he received as he walked towards their masses. Numbers meant nothing to him…but he would handle them personally. There were a few mages and a few hundred ghouls. Naruto calculated the amount of time it would take to walk to Jose.

Two minutes. One minute and fifty-seven seconds to walk, and three seconds to take care of some trash.

The moment he was in the range of the twelve mages that wanted to take care of him, they charged and used their most powerful spells. However, it failed, stopping the moment it was a foot away from the blond as their spells were absorbed into some kind of distortion. The blond didn't even bat an eyelash or give them a look, just continuing to walk at the same pace. Fine, hand-to-hand it was. However, that didn't work either. Three of them charged at the same time; they were blown away by Naruto's fists, sending them careening or flying through the air. Another three charged, and those three were roughly refused, a few rolling harshly against the ground, and one had a broken back.

The remaining six were now hesitant to charge. The first six had gone in, and each of them were demolished in a mere half-second. He hadn't even stopped walking! Hell, one of the members had tried to attack from behind, and the blond had reacted without turning around, punching the attacker without hesitation. That man's chin was broken for sure.

"Whether you attack me or not, it doesn't matter. You don't stand a chance, and your guild will not exist after today," Naruto said coldly, his blue eyes glowing from chakra. The six mages took a step back, frightened by the cold exterior that the blond was putting up. Why was it that they felt so much more threatened by the blond now than when he was roaring with anger in his large chakra fox form? Why did he seem so much larger now?

The ghouls, unlike the human mages, were not capable of thought or feeling fear, so they continued to charge. Naruto was fed up with them, so he dropped a seal on the ground and snapped his fingers. The moment he snapped, a giant wall barrier came to life and erected itself high into the air. All of the ghouls that ran into it disappeared and was absorbed into the seal.

Everyone, even Jose, the enemy guild mages, and the Fairy Tail mages were watching the blond. Everyone except Natsu and Gajeel, who were fighting their own battle. Apparently, Gajeel didn't care if he didn't have a guild to return to; he just wanted to fight strong people.

Naruto continued to walk, taking one step at a time. He entered the guild building, then walked up the steps, and then entered the room where Jose was. The guild leader was sneering at the blond, his eyes narrowed so harshly and with so condescension it was disgusting.

"Oh yes, the youngest S-class mage in the history of Earthland. Such a shame you didn't join **Phantom Lord**. You would've been so great, but you decided to join the Fairies instead. What a waste of potential." All of the Fairy Tail mages flinched at the undisguised insult. Naruto still hadn't dropped his blank expression, his narrow pupils still glazed and staring at the man in front of him.

"If only you had joined. I would've made you a **Saint**! You would've been a **Wizard Saint**, and I would've helped you!"

"Tell me…tell me why you attacked Master?" Jose dropped his excited expression and frowned, one eyebrow raised.

"Huh?" Naruto didn't stop, however.

"Tell me why you attacked our guild with the intent to destroy and to kill." Jose seemed to regain his bearings; that is, his condescension.

"Oh, that. It's simple really. Just remove Fairy Tail from the face of Earthland!" Naruto still had no change in expression. The mages beside him were beginning to worry, but not for the blond, but for Jose. Something was obviously off with the blond, but they had never seen this kind of attitude from the blond. If he was angry, he would show it. This concealed anger…this was dangerous.

"So…it's just as Erza yelled at you. This is all so petty. You know, you're a terrible guild master. I know you saw me destroy those six members that attacked me, but you didn't even bat an eyelash when they were struck down. If Makarov saw his children hurt, he would've attacked you until all hell was released. Hell, it's the very reason why he attacked your guild today!" Now the blond was showing one emotion: fury. And with his emotion, chakra began to come to life around the blond. Blue and gold chakra coated the blond and rose, steaming and flaming with power.

"Oh, are you going to fight me, boy? You know it's futile. I'm a wizard saint! One of the ten strongest in the world! Even if those five fought me all at once, they would lose!"

"You know…I'm not sure if you heard, but there's something they call me other than **Storm**. It's the number one unpredictable mage." The blond disappeared, and then he was right behind Jose, his hand on the guild leader's shoulder. "Let me show you why."

'_Holy crap he's fast!' _Everyone who saw thought at the same time. Jose even widened his eyes, not expecting that kind of speed. However, the blond didn't punish the man with a powerful strike or magical ability, instead jumping away.

"That was so you wouldn't complain about not being prepared, although that would make for a pathetic excuse either way." The blond looked past Jose and to his guild mates, each of them looking at him. "I'm sorry, but this time, I'm actually going to be really selfish. Can I destroy him myself?" he asked, an unnatural smile on his face.

Yup, he was pissed. If he was smiling at a time like this, when it was completely unnatural and unwarranted, the blond was raging. So, every one of them nodded. The blond nodded.

"Thank you. Let this be the only training session in which I would use another person as an example." Jose was insulted and was becoming quite indignant and irate as the blond continued to ignore him and insult him. He was just a sparring partner? Did Naruto think that low of him, the great Wizard Saint? He would show this ignorant blond.

Naruto changed his focus from his guild mates to the cause of the whole issue.

"Jose, I'm going to show you…how much of a difference there is in our strengths." Jose grinned.

"Of course I'll show you how much stronger I am! Then you'll join me afterwards because you'll be so amazed!" he stated, drunk in his plans of revenge. Naruto raised his right hand and held up one finger.

"I'm only going to use one move on you in each form…you'll be on the ground in less than two minutes." The extremely skinny and vengeful man smirked.

"Is that so? Well then…**Dark wave!**" In a quick motion, the man's hands rose and darkness converged in his palms before shooting towards the blond. Naruto stood still, watching with unafraid eyes as the dark blast of energy came closer and closer to him. At the very last second, he said –

"**Fuuin** **(Seal)**." The blond raised his hand with a paper seal in front. The moment the dark wave reached the blond, the seal rose by itself into the air and began to suck in all of the darkness, removing the attack from him. The blond's hair shook and waved about, his bangs going back and forth over his cold eyes.

"Blocked it with your special seal, huh? Just so you know, boy, I'm one of the people that allowed you to take the S-class trials, so I know about your skills!" Jose snarled. Naruto frowned.

"You know nothing. Absolutely nothing, and that's why you will lose. You think you know me but…" Naruto looked straight at Jose. Suddenly, his eyes changed colors, becoming orange and yellow with a bar crossing his eyes as an orange pigmentation spread around his eyes. "…you have no information about the true me."

That statement was only directed at Jose, but the members of Fairy Tail felt that they were included in that statement for some reason. How much of the "true" Naruto did they know? He had been gone for two years, technically for four years, and was now back, although they weren't sure whether it was for permanent or not. Only one of them knew the **Sage Mode** Naruto was using at the moment, and that was Gray, but he knew nothing of the **Bijuu Mode** he had used.

"I don't need information to beat you, boy! I'm much more powerful than you are!" Naruto smirked, the first expression he had shown in his neutral face. However, the smirk was so cynical and sardonic he may as well have kept it at a flat line.

"Questionable. After all – " Naruto disappeared again, creating afterimages of himself all around the room, each of them voicing his words, echoing back and forth, " – how can you hit something you can't see?" The very words that Natsu had said, or more properly copied, were used.

"Hmph, simple parlor tricks. How will you dodge something like this, then?" Jose asked as darkness and energy began to surround him in a dome. He quickly charged up the energy, making it become larger and larger until it exploded outwards, going out in all directions.

"Whoever said I needed to dodge it? **Wind Style: Rasengan**!" In a flash, a swirling orb of destruction the size of the blond's palm was at the ready, cutting a hole through the darkness with ease. Jose, inside his dome of darkness, missed this, and therefore was surprised when he was struck on the stomach by an intensely powerful punch. The skinny master gurgled, spitting out saliva and blood from the force of the blow, making him bend over and lift off the ground before flying at a wall, which he crashed through.

Coughing was heard from the other end of the crashed-through room as stones were topped and wood was moved and replaced. Naruto waited quietly, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Come. Let me show you how useless it is to fight me, someone you can't even hit once." A wave of darkness was the response, rushing at the blond. In just a second, it was in front of the blond's unflinching eye, and he still had not uncrossed his arms across his chest. "**Fuuin (Seal).**"

Once again, the darkness was swallowed up by a seal, but this time, there was no paper tag. The blond's chest lit up, and the darkness flowed to his abdomen like a vortex, eating up the energy wave, converting it from a malicious attack to energy that could be used to his advantage.

This was a message. Naruto could have just as easily dodged it or deflected the malicious attack, but he chose to absorb it into his body. It was the most direct and obvious message he could send to his 'opponent', if Jose could even be considered that. Everything was futile. Jose was not Naruto; the master did not have a steel-trap mind or ridiculous reserves or an unwavering will to protect and to constantly destroy any hurdles in the way.

Multiple waves were sent again, despite the futility. Naruto didn't bat an eyelash, absorbing every wave that came and converting it to purified chakra. Sound strange, but makes sense. In the essence of every magic is energy, and it was only a matter of conversion to change it from eterano to chakra.

"Why don't you just get out of my way, boy!" Naruto's face contorted into that of rage suddenly. The blond clapped his hands together. A moment later, his body lit up as orange and bright yellow flames took over his frame before he disappeared, flashing over to Jose at a markedly faster speed, as if his speed beforehand wasn't fast enough. The master was dangling in the air, the blond's hand at the man's collar menacingly.

"Then how the hell do you think I feel? You, who dared to attack my family and guild and decided that killing us was an action redeemable by yourself? No, I will _not_ get out of your way! I will be the very reason why you fail today and are sent to the deepest prison in Earthland." Naruto's passionate eyes caught the master's for a moment before the blond roughly threw Jose horizontally through a wall, only for the master to appear again, flying and tumbling in the air in a different direction. Only after the master had crashed through the room six times did the Fairy Tail mages realize that it was Naruto sprinting from one location to another, kicking and punching the master over and over again in the air, reaching him faster than he could fly.

"Natsu, are you that fast?" Gray asked, not moving his head to turn to his friend. Natsu had his arms crossed over his chest, his scarf waving from the wind caused by Naruto's movements, which made a resounding sonic wave every time he blasted off in one direction, indicating that he was going faster than the speed of sound.

"No. I'm close, but not that fast. What about you, Erza?" the dragonslayer asked.

"I'm slower than you even in my fastest armor if you remove your seals, Natsu. Don't joke about things like that."

Jose crashed into the room once more, battered and bruised heavily, but this time slid on the floor, landing right in the center on the room on his back. Naruto came into the room a moment later, walking through a large hole slowly, his brightness of his form belying the darkness in his mind.

"Stand up. You said you were going to beat me, right _boy_? And yet I haven't even used a single one of my techniques yet in this form." Jose struggled to stand despite his body telling him to lie down against the monster in front of him; his plans would not be ruined here! Not after all of his years of planning in his office, nor forcing his members to train would be ruined by his one blond! Jose was enraged, and it was obvious by his visage as darkness began to cloud the man's eyes and whole body. Naruto frowned.

"You will suffer, boy! I'll make sure to torture you until you won't be recognizable, and that's a promise!" He roared, telling his mind to ignore the pain of broken bones and a bleeding ear messing up his balance.

"I think you're forgetting something. **Bijuu Mode**!" Naruto created another bright light, disappearing from view for a moment. When the light dissipated, he was seen with a haori, much like his sage coat. Lines and creative markings adorned the translucent and bright clothing made of chakra. "I'm not even going all-out yet, and you have nothing to protect. You don't even care about your guild members!" Naruto shouted accusingly, his eyes showing anger, which was reflected as his cloak began to mix orange and red. "When I attacked your guild mates, I saw your reaction: you didn't even try to stop me from hurting them! Scum!"

Mira raised a hand to her mouth; she recognized this magical presence! In that one mission where she had gone with Naruto a few years back to save the women from the clutches of a Dark Guild, she remembered that Naruto had said he had gone 'all-out' to create that magical power. However, currently, Naruto was much more powerful, and yet he stated just now he wasn't going all out. How powerful was he now?

Jose was shaking weakly on his feet, one of the man's eyes lidded and his breathing became haggard and quick.

Naruto raised his glowing palm to shoulder height and kept it face up.

"Want me to show you something _elementary_?" the blond asked sarcastically, implying a bad pun. Chakra came to life above the blond's palm, whirling in a devastating swirl. Jose watched with morbid fascination, knowing that the very technique was aimed at him; however, for some reason, he couldn't move. His legs were shaking, and his body was breaking down on itself.

'_That blond bastard! He hit pressure points and my joints and specific muscles to make sure I wouldn't be able to fight back at this point!' _He realized, now beginning to understand the futility of the situation. He scowled; this was not how the plan was supposed to be.

"Now…allow me to show you what _true power_ is!" Naruto shouted as suddenly, flares of flames rushed around the ball, and wild winds joined in, aiding to fuel the flames. Waving waters joined in afterwards, and licks of lightning and hot forks of the electrical surge mixed and strengthened itself with the water. Finally, earth was on top, spinning at such a tremendous rate it looked still to the naked eye. Jose blanched.

But Naruto wasn't done. Blue and red orbs appeared in the air as Naruto stared silently, his palm now high above his head with the small ball of absolute destruction literally in his palm. The positive and negative energy began to mix and condense, joining with the swirling ball. When they converged, everyone around the blond suddenly raised their hands when a huge amount of wind and energy was thrown about.

"Apologize." Naruto suddenly said, taking a step towards the struggling master.

"Never! It's you fairies that should apologize to us and grovel at our feet!" Another step forward.

"Apologize. Beg for forgiveness." Another few steps, and he was only ten steps away. The wind and energy continued to flow off the blond like a tidal wave, almost throwing every person in the room off their feet. Naruto's face was shadowed by his waving and tussling bangs, but the frown was easily visible. "If not…I'll make it so that you'll be half-dead."

"I won't give up; when I'm at my peak, boy, I'll make sure to kill you first!" Naruto scowled.

"Kill me?" Suddenly, the blond was in front of the man, and he grabbed Jose by the collar and ripped the man off his feet, forcing him to dangle in the air as he choked for breath. "Give up!" Naruto yelled in the man's face, bringing the two only a foot apart. "The very idea of a guild is to help the people! Mages, who constitute only ten percent of the population, fighting against each other simply because of a petty thing such as rank is so stupid! All you're doing is causing retaliation, which did happen." The blond stopped shouting, now whispering something quietly. Jose remained silent, listening. The other Fairy Tail members couldn't hear, but they kept silent in respect. When Naruto's lips stopped moving, Jose suddenly sneered.

"You expect me to believe that bullshit? Hatred breeds more hatred? World peace? That's impossible! As long as there are people like _you_, it will never happen!" Naruto quickly lifted his head, and one eye began to glow from the shadows of his bangs. He brought his right hand and shot it forward.

Cana rushed into the room, running from next to the Fairy Tail building once she realized something. Naruto was planning on killing Jose. No, she didn't know for sure, but she felt it when he had fluxed and increased his magical presence; the variation of the **Rasengan **above his palm was also probably another hint. There was power, and there was also an underlying intent to kill that she had felt for a moment, and that was enough for her to sprint into the room as quickly as she could.

"Naruto, stop!" she yelled once she had ran through the door. Said teen looked over, his expression losing its cold exterior as he glanced at her. But he didn't stop his palm from striking Jose. However, right before the technique reached the master, it suddenly disappeared, and Jose was sent flying by a forehead palm strike. He crashed against a wall and didn't burst through, showing that Naruto had held back.

"Yeah? What's up?" At least he seemed calm. Then why was it that more and more of his cloak was converging into a deep, crimson color? The same color as blood?

"Naruto, you can't do what I know you're about to do. Don't do it," she told him. He raised an eyebrow.

"And what was I going to do, Cana?" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before speaking.

"You were going to kill him," she stated. "Don't say you weren't; for some reason, I could just feel it. You can't do that, Naruto. It's against the law, and it's against your character!" she said, trying to persuade him. Naruto just raised his eyebrows even further.

"I wasn't going to kill him. I saw a rat and was going to kill it, but decided against it. But it just kept on running into the room that I had to prevent myself from 'accidently' stepping on it." Cana froze, and the rest of the Fairy Tail mages deadpanned. Was Naruto even taking his fight against a Wizard Saint seriously? At all?

"Are you serious?" Cana's disbelief was literally palpable. Naruto simply nodded his head.

"I'm teaching him how to be humble. Letting him now that one person that isn't even noticed by the world after four years can still kick a Saint's ass."

"You know, you've hidden from the world for four years. That's probably why you weren't noticed." Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"Details. Anyway, I need to go back to kicking his ass. I'm still _extremely _pissed at him." The coat was now completely red, and his eyes shifted colors, turning completely crimson. The blond took a step forwards the tired and beaten man, his step cracking the floor simply by pressure and power emanating from him. "Want to see a parlor trick? The result is that you end up bowing down to me. How does it sound, _Master _Jose?"

"You should just die!" he snarled out, scowling deeply, wrinkling pronouncing itself on the man's forehead.

"I'd prefer not to, really." Naruto replied. Suddenly, the blond was in front of the man, his fist ready to explode as it lit up from a mixture of purified and normal chakra. Suddenly, hundreds of seals attached to the man's body. Another moment later, he fell to the ground on his knees, his forehead against the ground and his arms above his head.

"Oh, what is this? Are you actually bowing down to me? I thought you said I should die, though. Thank you for your respect; maybe I won't kill myself since at least one person looks up to me." The blond stated, smiling as he dropped his fist and stood up straight. Where had all of his rage gone?

"Naruto, are you okay?" Mira asked. She was expecting the blond to kill Jose as well, or at least bring the enemy master dangerously close to death based on the way he was acting. The blond dropped his **Bijuu Mode** and stretched his back, leaning as far back as possible while putting his arms as high above his head as he could.

"Ah, that hit the spot," he said, satisfied when he felt a few cracks. "Yeah, I'm good. But I still have to make him half-dead, like I promised." The blond shifted his gaze from the ceiling down to the prone figure of the pathetic man he had fought. "How should I do this? Torture? No, that's not allowed. Beat you until you begin to cry and call for your mother? No, that's too kind as well. Maybe I should break all the bones in your body, one at a time, and see what kind of reaction you give me! Oh, that sounds like the right one!" Naruto said, grinning sadistically as he slowly staggered with a certain gait to his steps as he circled the man. Jose tried to crab-walk backwards, but he couldn't even move.

Now the blond was looking absolutely terrifying. Naruto was standing, and Jose was on the floor, looking up at the tall personage of Fairy Tail's strongest. He was thoroughly beaten, and there was no way for him to rebuke that. However, now Naruto was going to break every single bone in his body while smiling with that perverse grin?

"Please don't," he suddenly whimpered. Naruto's grin widened.

"Eh? My ears didn't hear correctly, I think. Mind if you repeat that?" Naruto made his canines visible.

"I apologize for attacking Fairy Tail! I'll never do it again! On my word as a Wizard Saint! Now please, don't break every single bone in my body!" Jose begged, still on the floor, helpless and weak. The pressure that was previously saturating the very air disappeared.

"Finally, you apologized. That's what I was waiting for. So I won't break every bone in your body." Jose visibly relaxed. "I'll just break two-hundred and five of them and leave one untouched. Sound good?" Naruto asked, bending on his knees so that he was eye level with the now terrified man. The blond's eyes was crinkled with sadistic glee as it turned red; Jose fainted.

"…What just happened?" Cana asked. Everyone else just shrugged their shoulders. Naruto stood up and stayed still for a moment, his headband strands dancing with the wind, his back to his old teammates.

"Well, I already broke forty-six bones, so not like it really matters. Oh, and you can stop hiding now, Jiji-san." Naruto called out. A moment later, the master of Fairy Tail was in front of Naruto, a stern expression on his face.

"You've been gone for four years, Naruto. And you left that time without my permission."

"Technically, it was with your permission. I had over a hundred S-class missions to attend to." The S-class mages in the room choked at that statement. One hundred! Each one on average took a week or maybe even two! Some took over a month!

"You were done with those two years ago, Naruto," Makarov replied with a no-nonsense tone. Naruto adopted the same expression in return. "What were you doing in those years?"

"…I was on _the _mission." Makarov widened his eyes; was Naruto even strong enough to be on the mission? The **One Hundred Year **mission that Gildarts had taken up for himself and had been saved by…Naruto two years ago.

Makarov dropped his stern expression and thought to himself. Yes, Naruto was definitely strong enough. Two years ago, Gildarts had asked Makarov if Naruto could join him. Of course, he had declined the request. The boy wasn't even twenty back then, for Kami's sake! The boy was far from his peak, and the master thought that Gildarts was a bit drunk…like when he was drunk to sign Naruto off on over a hundred S-class missions.

"I see." Master finally said slowly, rubbing his chin. He turned to Mira. "Mira-chan, do me a favor and remove the master of Phantom Lord, please. We will have to turn him in to the Rune Knights when they come." Mira nodded and walked over to Jose, picked him up, and quickly walked out of the room. Only then did Makarov return his gaze to Naruto. "As for you…you are to abort the mission." Naruto widened his eyes.

"Are you kidding me?! Gildarts might die if I'm not there! I can't just leave him like that!" He replied earnestly. He didn't mean for that to come off as cocky, but just truthful. Two people were stronger than a single unit. Makarov gave a look at the mages behind Naruto and gave them a look. They understood immediately and turned around, walking out of the room as a group.

'_Let me talk with Naruto, and we'll be down in a bit.'_

"No, this is not a joke. As your guild master, I am ordering you to remove yourself from that mission! I would have never given you permission at such a young age either way; you have teammates and members that have been waiting for years for you to return! You are to stay with the guild!" Makarov commanded, ordering Naruto to actually do something for the first time in his stay with the guild. The blond widened his eyes, shocked. That quickly gave way to irritation and annoyance.

"Fine; let me just go and tell Gildarts," the blond replied quickly, disappearing in a flash. Makarov waited only fifteen seconds when an orange flash lit up the room and two people teleported into the place, one of them being the ace of Fairy Tail, who looked confused at the moment.

"Naruto, I thought you said you were taking me to Master. This doesn't look like our guild."

"This is Phantom Lord's guild building. It just got a little touch from yours truly to make it more unique." Gildarts chuckled at the blond's bland response and clapped the young boy on the back lightly. Well, at least Naruto didn't fall to the floor like the first time he was given a nice, small pat on the back from Gildarts.

"I still like your sense of humor, brat," he stated laughingly. When he had stopped chuckling, he looked at the blond. "So, where's Master?"

"Down here, Gildarts. Seriously, I feel like you're making fun of my height on purpose," Makarov mumbled to himself, a sour expression on his face when he saw Gildarts just smiling. "I know that you felt my presence."

"Aw, don't look so sad, Master. I'm back!" Gildarts said. Makarov had to smile at that. Gildarts was back, although it was uncertain for just how long. Suddenly, a cheer erupted from outside. Apparently, Natsu had won his fight against Gajeel. The three inside Phantom Lord's guild building deadpanned; the result was the destruction of Fairy Tail's building. Naruto was pretty sure that Natsu and Gajeel had done more damage to Fairy Tail's building than the blond had done to Phantom Lord's. Yup, they definitely did; the whole building came crashing down.

"Seriously? That's a kid almost as bad as I am," Gildarts commented. Naruto scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Don't compare yourself to Natsu; you're at least twelve times worse. Master, you alright down there?" Gildarts and Naruto both turned their attention to their guild leader. Makarov was crying, his tears rushing down his cheeks like a stream before it evolved into a geyser.

"What am I going to tell the magic council this time?" he asked, despairing when the situation would arise. He could see it already! The council members looking at him as he explained the war between guilds. And then…their expressions when he states that both buildings were absolutely trashed.

Naruto pointed at Gildarts. "Just say that the hulk of a man has come back."

"Says the one that destroyed Phantom Lord's guild." Naruto paused at that.

"Touché." Naruto dropped his smirk and adorned a serious expression. "So, Master, enough games. I brought Gildarts because he said that he wanted to talk to you about what you said to me."

"That's right." Makarov coughed a few times into his closed fist and looked up at Gildarts with an authoritative expression. The expression of a leader, not of a jester. This was the Makarov that had gotten the man his position as the leader of Fairy Tail and as a Wizard Saint and as one of the most powerful mages in the land called Earthland.

"So, what's up?"

"Naruto will not be accompanying you on your mission anymore." Gildarts seemed conflicted by this. "First of all, I have not given him permission to even travel with you during your mission. He may have just joined you during your travels, but even that is simply dangerous."

"He's an S-class mage and I would be willing to fight back-to-back with him any day," Gildarts retorted. "He's a strong mage, Makarov. Extremely strong for his age. Remember what I said that day during the S-class trials?" Makarov recalled the event; Gildarts had said that in a decade or two, the blond would be at a level of his own, and the master agreed. But it had only been a few years, not a decade. "I still hold true to my statement, but I think I may have to change the years. Naruto is stronger than I am now."

"What?!" Makarov coughed out, suddenly choking. Stronger than the ace of Fairy Tail? Naruto seemed abashed suddenly.

"Ah, Gildarts is teasing me." Said man turned his head to face Naruto and grinned at the blond who was blushing from the compliment.

"I'm not, Naruto. If we fought again at full power, I'm pretty sure that I would lose now. You have multiple counters to my magic, and your speed would counter my strength. Just agree with your elder for once and accept that you are stronger than I am." Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, chuckling nervously. Makarov broke out of his stupor at that moment.

"Either way, Naruto, you are not to accompany Gildarts on his mission any longer. I haven't even told the magic council where've you been, and they have been becoming impatient with me." Naruto threw his hands behind his head and whistled a tune.

"Sucks for them," he said. Makarov sighed.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later, Naruto. Get some rest. Have a talk with your old team, get to know them again. Kami knows you need it," Makarov said with closed eyes as he dropped his shoulders; the war was over and Fairy Tail had won. Naruto slowly nodded before he disappeared in a flash. A moment later, loud cheers roared again.

Makarov and Gildarts smiled; the kid was back.

**XShuyaX**

**(Time Skip: Two Hours)**

"So…explain yourself." Naruto did a slow blink at Cana's order. The eight of them were at his apartment complex. Natsu, Happy, Gray, Cana, Mira, Erza, Lucy, and himself were sitting around the living room comfortably. Lucy was forced to join when Natsu pulled her into the room with him; he wanted her to meet Naruto. The blond took a look around the room.

"You changed it. The color of the walls inside my room was orange. Why is it blue now?" Cana crossed her legs and her arms.

"I moved in after you left along with Levy. Is there a problem?" Naruto shook his head.

"Not really. Wow…it's been a really long time since I've seen you all. You've all grown a lot," he breathed out, his eyes slowly sweeping across the room to meet every person's eyes. Dead silence. It's not that it was awkward, but no one wanted to say anything until Naruto did. "I really missed you guys."

"Then where the hell have you been?" Natsu said silently at his 'younger brother', seething quietly. "We've been waiting for you for four years, and you never even gave us clues as to where you were or gave us a letter to tell us you were alright."

"Natsu, I wouldn't die. You know that." Naruto replied consolingly.

"No we didn't," Mira said, staring at the blond with a hard look. She was genuinely concerned for years, and now that he was back, she was definitely relieved and happy, but she would be angry until he would explain himself for his actions.

"You're strong – that's beyond a doubt. However, there are always people stronger out there in the world. Isn't that what you said?" Gray commented from his position next to Natsu. Naruto smirked; oh, this was rich. His own words were being thrown at his face.

"And Naruto, you said something that everyone in Fairy Tail knows, and we'll repeat it to you so that you remember your own words," Erza said. Everyone, including Lucy and Happy, breathed in as one and said –

"Those that break the rules and don't follow their leader's orders are trash…but those that disregard their comrades are even worse than trash," they recited.

"Naruto, you went back on your own words. Do us all a favor and just come clean with us," Cana pleaded. And at that moment, Naruto realized how foolish he had been; he leaned forwards and rested his chin against his propped up hands. Well, he had felt that he was being extremely unwise with his decision even back then, but now, it was hitting him hard. When had he changed? His most important rule in life that he followed, to protect his comrades, to be there for them, he had ignored it to fulfill his own selfish endeavors.

'_What have I done?' _A slow, tired smile, much older than any smile they had seen before placed itself on the blond's lips.

"Come clean? Where to start…" Cana raised an eyebrow.

"The start usually implies the beginning." Naruto laughed without humor; it seems Cana was in good company.

"Hmm…how do I say this? Okay, let's start with the biggest thing first. I'm from-"

"-the past…you're from the past!" Lucy said with admiration, looking at the blond with reverence. Everyone looked at the girl as if she was crazy, but they noticed the slow smile on Naruto widen.

"Oh? How did you know, little lady?" That question sealed the deal; the blond was really from the past. Everyone just stared at him now, shocked. All this time that he was with them…and they had never even had a shadow of doubt. Why would they? He was their best friend and guild mate.

But now, all the pieces were falling into place. **Ancient Runes**. How else would the blond have absolute mastery over such an esoteric ability? His old accent and his use of archaic words also pointed at his true nature. His smiles that showed that he had seen much more than a normal person had seen. And so many more things! His relationship with his headband. His style of clothing when he first crashed through Fairy Tail. His use of magic…or was it even right to call it that?

"A bedtime story from my mother when I was very young…it left a scar, but also a good amount of wisdom." Naruto frowned. That's not what he was expecting; he wasn't wise in any way, and he didn't think he did anything that was worthy of giving a young girl a scar mentally. Lucy looked around the room, suddenly looking confused.

"Wait, how come you guys never heard of the story I'm talking about? I know it's not popular, but at least _one _of you should know it, right?" Denials all around the room.

"Didn't know my parents."

"Didn't read me bedtime stories."

"I was more interested in ice."

"My father was a dragon…he didn't really read me stories, either."

"I don't really remember any stories from my childhood."

"Natsu doesn't read me stories."

Lucy just stared at them all. That's right, this was Fairy Tail, Earthland's most powerful guild…and also a guild that gave shelter to children and teens, to give them a place to call home. And she thought her issue with her father was bad. Guess what? All of her friends her age had no real parents at a young age!

She gave a look at Naruto.

"My parents died so that I could live, so I was an orphan." Lucy almost sobbed; that wasn't in the story she heard. "How did the story go?"

"Well…I was traumatized because it said that people killed, including you, the main character." Naruto clicked his tongue; that'll do it. Killing was _really _bad in Fiore; in his time, killing was normal. A crime? Yes. But not nearly as heinous as it is today. "But the story always portrayed you as heroic and willing to save your friends. And then it explains how you had a lot of ordeals, but you broke through every one of them with your ingenuity and eventually became the leader of your village," Lucy quickly summarized. Naruto sighed.

"My life in so many words. That was really short, Lucy, but thank you. Did the story call me by name?"

"You're welcome. And no, it just said an Uzumaki with blond hair, bright, blue eyes, and a deep conviction to protect all things precious to him."

"It's good to know that I at least have some impact in the world today, although that wasn't what I was really aiming for."

'_I'm going to become the greatest Hokage in the world, and then everyone will have to remember me!' _Okay, maybe he had been aiming for it…just a little. But hey, he was immature back then! He had a genuine excuse!

"Now…that story is somewhat accurate, but also way too happy and I didn't break through every ordeal; I lost a lot of precious people in my life. My life was hell for the first thirteen years. But that's not important; all of you went through something, so you can understand me, right? Good. Now…how many of you believe in chance?" Cana only raised her hand. Go figure. "…I was expecting a bit more."

"Not all of us have your luck, Naruto," Gray deadpanned.

"Right, about that…anyway, not important. So, I was caught in a technique that would throw me into another dimension, but when I arrived, I quickly found out that I was in another time. The technique the man used on me was a time-space technique; note the 'time' part of it. It'll help a lot."

"Didn't you say your teleportation technique is also a time-space ability?" Naruto nodded.

"Yeah. Basically, my body 'teleports' to a location, but motion is not instantaneous, no matter how you think about it. So, it has to break down my body and reconstruct it at the location of the seal, and that takes time. Not very long – about a hundredth of a second – but it's long enough to say it's not instantaneous. Basically, the technique ends up turning back time for that short period, and there I am. Instantaneous transportation with no delays." Gray raised his eyebrows; whoever created that technique was a genius! Cana coughed; Naruto took the hint.

"Right, so I came to Earthland-"

"Before that, can you explain _why _you were placed in that technique?" Cana asked, interrupting Naruto. The blond sighed; here, their ideals would clash.

"How do you all feel about killing?" Everyone gave their own expression, but it generally sent the same message: killing was an atrocious act. Naruto closed his eyes, resigning himself. "I thought so."

"Wait…are you saying-" Erza began. The blond nodded.

"Yeah. I've killed people in my life. Why are you all so surprised? You know what this headband means?" The blond asked, pointing with his index finger to the metal forehead protector glinting in the sun. "It's proof of my loyalty to a certain _ninja _village. Ninjas kill, _mages_." Naruto said darkly, now beginning to reveal truths about his past.

"You've…killed?" Lucy said, her look of admiration quickly disappearing. This was her first time meeting Naruto and she wasn't liking this Naruto character so much right now.

"Yes, although the number could be counted on a single hand. However, if I had the chance to fight them again, I would kill them again. Which brings me around to the technique that brought me here; we were in a death match. If I lost, the world would have fallen under a hypnosis technique that would've taken away everyone's freedom. If I won, there would be peace, however short that peace may have been. I never got to see the end of that day."

"Who was that person?" Cana asked, leaning forward in her seat. Naruto stared at her silently for a moment before responding.

"Does it matter? The fact is that I killed; innocent or guilty, I killed someone," Naruto stated, bringing silence to the room as everyone else began to contemplate his statement. "Alright, let me explain why I was gone for the few years now. Do you know what happens when you go from the past to the future? Yeah, you mess up the timeline and go through hundreds and thousands of parallel universes. However, the main thing is the fact you create paradoxes. I believe that some people are here directly as a result of my arrival. How I know this? They use chakra, the energy that I mainly use."

The mages in the room felt that they were slowly being pulled farther and farther away from the blond. There was a river between them now, and it seemed that it would only grow.

"Chakra is an energy from the past, the mixture between physical energies and the spiritual energy of a person. Basically, our life force. If we run out of it, we will die. Thing is…mages aren't supposed to be able to use it. No one in this world is supposed to be able to. There was a time when chakra and magic was able to coexist inside someone, but that time is gone. Genetics and general changes in the structure of the person has resulted in their inability to channel chakra. Basically, chakra is impossible to use today. The Eterano in the air is the main reason for this; it's everywhere, and people slowly changed. Children would be more attuned to using magic, and then their children would be even more attuned. In time, it wouldn't be surprising if everyone could use magic eventually. But that's how I know that chakra should not exist in this world and that the people I met that were able to use chakra were paradoxes created by myself." Naruto turned to Natsu.

"Natsu, did you know that dragons wouldn't have existed if magic hadn't come to the world and destroyed each of my spiritual friends? Magic wouldn't exist in this world, and chakra would have been the rule of today. Thing is, anyone was able to use chakra if they wanted to unless their chakra system was so damaged, and there was only one person I knew that had that case of the hundreds of thousands of ninjas I met in my life."

"There…were that many ninjas?" Mira asked, shocked just like everyone else.

"You meet a lot of people when you're second in command to the leader of your village, right about to become the leader, and the commander of the Shinobi Alliance against the very people threatening the world at the age of eighteen," Naruto stated, implying multiple things. First of all, he was strong enough and had the mental capacity to be a leader of a village that had over a few hundred thousand people; Konoha was pretty large. It's amazing how Tsuande saved so many of the villagers against Pain. Secondly, he was implying that he was older than everyone in the room was. He was eighteen when he was commander, not before he left his past and came to their present.

"How old are you?" Gray asked.

"I'm twenty-five now," Naruto replied quietly; age didn't represent a person's mental age. Naruto could have lived a thousand normal lives and would have never seen the things he had seen.

"So?" Cana suddenly said as she stood up, walking towards Naruto. "What does it matter?" She was now in front of the sitting blond. "You said that it doesn't matter who you killed; the fact was that you killed. To me, it doesn't matter if you're from the past or the future, because you're Naruto to me. I may not know you completely, but it doesn't matter; I want to be with you, and so does everyone else." Nods around the room, although Lucy seemed somewhat hesitant.

"…" Cana smiled, her wide teeth-filled smile spreading across her face.

"I'm upset that you left, but I'm glad you're back." She leaned forwards and hugged the blond around the shoulders. "It's really good to have you back with us, so let's get to know each other again."

And the wonderful moment was ruined when everyone jumped in as well, doing their own form of greeting. Natsu and Gray gave Naruto a knuckle, Mira gave the blond a soft hug. Erza gave him a powerful hug that made his head slam into her chest armor. Happy just asked for fish, and Lucy greeted herself.

Well, in a way, it was wonderful in and of itself.

Naruto was back, and he was here to stay.

**Chapter End**

**A/N: I'm unsure how much longer this story will be, but I know where it's going to end. Just a warning to all the fans of this story, it will be ending soon. I feel that I've made a huge mistake after Chapter 9 in adding the OC Oni Teuchi, and after that, it required me to think so much instead of write that I felt myself lose enthusiasm. True, thinking is fun, but writing and seeing the works come to life is even better.**

**So, I ask you, my avid readers that I know you are, if I should rewrite this story from Chapter 9? Or even earlier? Later? Sh****ould I rewrite it? No matter what, it's going to end soon. If someone wants to continue it from where I end it, that's fine too.**

**And so, I'm making a poll. Please participate; it will help me get an accurate feedback of what you would like! It'll be on my Profile Page.**

**And as always, would you people be so kind as to leave a review? Constructive criticism, what you think about the story, how should I continue it, whatever is on your mind...unless you intend to flame. If that's the case, I will douse them with water that can never be removed.**

**KenzoXShuyita, Peacing Out!**


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